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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see the remarks, filed on 05/26/2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 7 and 8 under 35 U.S.C. 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made in view of a different aspect of the same reference (US Pub. Nº 2015/0109396) to Kawamoto.
Priority
3. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Drawings
4. The examiner contends that the drawings submitted on 07/25/2023 are acceptable for examination proceedings.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
5. 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 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.
6. 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.
7. Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Kawamoto (US Pub. Nº 2015/0109396).
8. Regarding independent claim 7: Kawamoto disclosed a printing apparatus ([0040], line 1; also see Fig. 6, reference 11) comprising:
a rolled paper holder ([0070], line 1; also see Fig. 6, reference 16) configured to accommodate rolled paper ([0070], line 1; also see Fig. 6, reference R);
a feeding roller that feeds recording paper drawn from the rolled paper accommodated in the rolled paper holder ([0064], lines 1-3; also see Fig. 6, the series of roller pairs disposed in a straight line upstream and downstream of the recording unit 31) toward an outlet ([0064], line 2; also see Fig. 6, reference 14); and
a recess that extends in a second direction intersecting a first direction from the feeding roller toward the outlet and provided between the feeding roller and the outlet (see the annotated Fig. 6 below for the recess), wherein
a dimension of the recess in a third direction that is a depth direction of the recess is larger than an opening width of the recess in the first direction (see the annotated exploded view of Fig. 6 below; the depth of the recess (vertical direction) is larger than the opening width in the first direction (horizontal direction). Note that in Fig. 6 the printer is not disposed with the right side up, which prevents the medium CP from exiting),
the recess is above both the feeding roller and the outlet in the third direction (the annotated exploded view of Fig. 6 below shows the recess disposed above both the feeding roller and the outlet in the third direction),
the recess is offset from the feeding roller in the first direction (see the annotated exploded view of Fig. 6 below, which shows the recess offset from the feeding roller),
the recess defines an empty cavity that is configured to store the recording paper after it has been recorded on when the outlet is blocked (this limitation is considered an intended use and would not be given patentable weight; however, as seen in Fig. 6, when the outlet is obstructed, the recording paper which has been printed-on will be stored in the recess), and
the cavity forms a part of an upper portion of the outlet (see Fig. 6, the cavity forms a part of an upper portion of the outlet).
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Allowable Subject Matter
9. Claim 8 is 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.
10. Claims 1 and 5-6 are allowed.
Conclusion
11. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
12. Japanese Patent application publication number 2019-204144 to Oikawa et al. also disclosed a similar invention in Fig. 5.
13. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YAOVI M. AMEH whose telephone number is (571)272-4578. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM.
14. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
15. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, RICARDO MAGALLANES can be reached at (571)272-5960. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YAOVI M AMEH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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