DETAILED ACTION
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Namiki et al (JP 2012218937).
Regarding claim 1, Namiki discloses a sheet discharge device comprising:
a discharge roller (43a) rotatable to apply a conveyance force to a sheet and discharge the sheet;
a follow roller (43b) rotatable about an axis, the follow roller being configured to nip the sheet with the discharge roller and to rotate by following rotation of the discharge roller, the follow roller being harder than the discharge roller;
a paddle (48) rotatable together with the follow roller, the paddle including protrusions and recesses arranged alternately in a circumferential direction of the axis, each of the protrusions protruding farther radially outward than an outer circumference of the follow roller to contact the sheet, each of the recesses being recessed radially inward between two of the protrusions adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction; and
a groove located between the follow roller and the paddle in a width direction (see figures 3 and 5), the width direction being parallel to a direction in which the axis extends, the groove being located at a same position as an end of the discharge roller in the width direction, the groove being recessed one round farther radially inward than the outer circumference of the follow roller.
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Regarding claim 11, Namiki discloses a sheet discharge device comprising:
a discharge roller (43a) rotatable to apply a conveyance force to a sheet and discharge the sheet;
a follow roller (43b) rotatable about an axis, the follow roller being configured to nip the sheet with the discharge roller and to rotate by following rotation of the discharge roller, the follow roller being harder than the discharge roller;
a paddle (48) rotatable together with the follow roller, the paddle including protrusions and recesses arranged alternately in a circumferential direction of the axis, each of the protrusions protruding farther radially outward than an outer circumference of the follow roller to contact the sheet, each of the recesses being recessed radially inward between two of the protrusions adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction; and
a groove located between the follow roller and the paddle in a width direction (see figures 3 and 5), the width direction being parallel to a direction in which the axis extends, the groove being located at a same position as an end of the discharge roller in the width direction, the groove being recessed one round farther radially inward than the outer circumference of the follow roller.
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) 9 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Namiki et al in view of Yatsuhashi et al (US Pat No 6,089,567).
It is noted that Namiki fails to disclose the specific materials of the rollers. However, Yatsuhashi discloses a similar roller device and that the driving roller being made of rubber and driven roller being made of resin (see C3, L31-50). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to have modified the device of *** with the materials taught by Yatsuhashi to achieve the predictable result of conveying the sheet to the tray in which the sheet is discharged.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-8, 10, 12-18, and 20 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.
Conclusion
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/Patrick Cicchino/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3619
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