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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fukuda et al. (hereinafter Fukuda) (JP-2001358900-A).
Regarding claim 1: Fukuda discloses a body part (Fig. 1, main body unit 1) in which a close-contact optical system type reading section having an image sensor that reads light concentrated by a lens is disposed (In the contact-type image sensor in the upper lid 20, the light source 25 that projects the irradiation light for reading an image on the back surface (the surface facing upward) of the document conveyed in the conveyance path 24, and the irradiation light And a protective glass 27 that transmits the reflected light from the back surface of the original sheet, a cell hook lens 26 for converting the reflected light into parallel light, and the transmitted light from the cell hook lens is detected and converted into an electrical signal., par. 26) and in which a document platen glass (Fig. 1, platen 6 which is a transparent glass plate, par. 30) and a first base contact member are disposed on an upper surface (Fig. 1, upper lid 20); and a covering part in which a second base contact member is disposed (Fig. 1, upper unit 2), which comes into contact with the first base contact member to perform base contact through a closing operation of a user and which separates from the first base contact member and releases the base contact through an opening operation of the user (Next, the document sheet moves onto the platen 7 facing the contact image sensor. At this time, the platen 6 and the platen 7 are integrally formed, and the upper surface of the platen 6 and the upper surface of the platen 7 form the same plane, so that the original is smoothly from the platen 6 to the platen 7. Migrate to Further, the CIS unit 29 receives a clockwise rotating moment by a spring 34 around the rotating pin 31 and receives a counterclockwise rotating moment by its own weight. When these moments are balanced and the upper lid 20 is opened upward, the spacer 35 that is suspended slightly below the horizontal plane comes into contact with the upper surface of the main unit 1 when the upper lid is closed, and enters a floating state. Maintained. Thus, an adjusting means for adjusting the relative position between the CIS unit 29 and the upper unit 2 is formed. When the document sheet is positioned within the interval between the protective glass plate 27 and the platen 7 formed by the spacer 35, the interval is within a range where a focused image can be formed on the image sensor unit 28, and will be described later. A sharp image can be read in the image reading operation on the back side of the document. When the upper lid 20 is closed, the spacer 35 comes into contact with the upper surface of the platen 7, and the CIS unit 29 and the backup guide 39 are floated together to regulate the gap of the conveyance path., par. 31).
Regarding claim 2: Fukuda satisfies all the elements of claim 1. Fukuda further discloses wherein combinations of the first base contact member and the second base contact member in a state of being in contact with each other by the closing operation (Next, the document sheet moves onto the platen 7 facing the contact image sensor. At this time, the platen 6 and the platen 7 are integrally formed, and the upper surface of the platen 6 and the upper surface of the platen 7 form the same plane, so that the original is smoothly from the platen 6 to the platen 7. Migrate to Further, the CIS unit 29 receives a clockwise rotating moment by a spring 34 around the rotating pin 31 and receives a counterclockwise rotating moment by its own weight. When these moments are balanced and the upper lid 20 is opened upward, the spacer 35 that is suspended slightly below the horizontal plane comes into contact with the upper surface of the main unit 1 when the upper lid is closed, and enters a floating state. Maintained. Thus, an adjusting means for adjusting the relative position between the CIS unit 29 and the upper unit 2 is formed. When the document sheet is positioned within the interval between the protective glass plate 27 and the platen 7 formed by the spacer 35, the interval is within a range where a focused image can be formed on the image sensor unit 28, and will be described later. A sharp image can be read in the image reading operation on the back side of the document. When the upper lid 20 is closed, the spacer 35 comes into contact with the upper surface of the platen 7, and the CIS unit 29 and the backup guide 39 are floated together to regulate the gap of the conveyance path., par. 31) are respectively disposed near both end portions of the reading section (In the contact-type image sensor in the upper lid 20, the light source 25 that projects the irradiation light for reading an image on the back surface (the surface facing upward) of the document conveyed in the conveyance path 24, and the irradiation light And a protective glass 27 that transmits the reflected light from the back surface of the original sheet, a cell hook lens 26 for converting the reflected light into parallel light, and the transmitted light from the cell hook lens is detected and converted into an electrical signal., par. 26).
Regarding claim 3: Fukuda satisfies all the elements of claim 2. Fukuda further discloses wherein the combinations are respectively disposed outside both end portions (components are contained at the end of upper unit 2 and upper lid 20 as seen in Fig. 1) of the reading section (In the contact-type image sensor in the upper lid 20, the light source 25 that projects the irradiation light for reading an image on the back surface (the surface facing upward) of the document conveyed in the conveyance path 24, and the irradiation light And a protective glass 27 that transmits the reflected light from the back surface of the original sheet, a cell hook lens 26 for converting the reflected light into parallel light, and the transmitted light from the cell hook lens is detected and converted into an electrical signal., par. 26).
Regarding claim 4: Fukuda satisfies all the elements of claim 2. Fukuda further discloses wherein the combinations are respectively disposed near edge portions (components are contained at the end of upper unit 2 and upper lid 20 as seen in Fig. 1) of the document platen glass (Fig. 1, platen 6 which is a transparent glass plate, par. 30).
Regarding claim 7: Fukuda satisfies all the elements of claim 1. Fukuda further discloses wherein the covering part has an automatic document feeding function (The image reading apparatus has an image sensor for reading an image of a document sheet that is fed out and conveyed one by one from a document receiving tray by an automatic document feeder. Further, in recent image reading apparatuses, the document sheets fed out one by one by the automatic document feeder are provided with two separate image sensors, so that the document sheet is conveyed once without switching back the document sheet. There has been proposed a pass having a function configured to read images on both sides of a manuscript sheet., par. 3 and However, in order for the images on both the front and back sides of the original sheet conveyed by the automatic document feeder to be read precisely by the two separate image sensors without being out of focus, the conveyed original is set. It is necessary to carry the sheet while maintaining the depth of focus with respect to the reference position (running position)., par. 8).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fukuda in view of Yoshida (JP-2003255649-A).
Regarding claim 5: Fukuda satisfies all the elements of claim 1. Fukuda further discloses wherein the first base contact member (Fig. 1, upper lid 20) and the second base contact member (Fig. 1, upper unit 2)
Fukuda fails to specifically address each are constituted of a metal member.
Yoshida discloses each are constituted of a metal member (An intermediate rotating body that rotatably holds the opening / closing cover, and the opening / closing cover is configured to be rotatable with an L-shaped metal plate with respect to the intermediate rotating body., par. 53).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include each are constituted of a metal member in order to assist in the opening and closing of the cover as taught by Yoshida (pars. 34 and 53).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fukuda in view of Yoshida and further in view of Yoshidome (US 10,674,024).
Regarding claim 6: Fukuda in view of Yoshida satisfy all the elements of claim 5. Fukuda further discloses wherein at least one of the first base contact member (Fig. 1, upper lid 20) or the second base contact member (Fig. 1, upper unit 2) coming into contact with each other (closed position)
Fukuda in view of Yoshida fail to specifically address is slidable due to a pressing force generated during contact.
Yoshidome discloses is slidable due to a pressing force generated during contact (FIG. 3A illustrates a foot-wieldable scanner cover 30 furnished on the scanning unit 11 of the present disclosure. The scanner cover 30 is slidable on rails 32 flanking the platen glass 31 either longitudinally (lengthwise along the rectangular platen glass 31), as is the case with the implementation illustrated in FIG. 3, or latitudinally (widthwise along the rectangular platen glass 31)., col. 6, ln. 47-53).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Fukuda in view of Yoshida to include is slidable due to a pressing force generated during contact in order to allow the cover to provide a slidable movement as taught by Yoshidome (col. 6, ln. 47-53).
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fukuda in view of Sakanashi et al. (hereinafter Sakanashi) US 2013/0094066 A1.
Regarding claim 8: Fukuda satisfies all the elements of claim 7. Fukuda further discloses
wherein the covering part (Fig. 1, upper unit 2) is able to automatically feed a document (The image reading apparatus has an image sensor for reading an image of a document sheet that is fed out and conveyed one by one from a document receiving tray by an automatic document feeder. Further, in recent image reading apparatuses, the document sheets fed out one by one by the automatic document feeder are provided with two separate image sensors, so that the document sheet is conveyed once without switching back the document sheet. There has been proposed a pass having a function configured to read images on both sides of a manuscript sheet., par. 3 and However, in order for the images on both the front and back sides of the original sheet conveyed by the automatic document feeder to be read precisely by the two separate image sensors without being out of focus, the conveyed original is set. It is necessary to carry the sheet while maintaining the depth of focus with respect to the reference position (running position)., par. 8)
Fukuda fails to specifically address having a size larger than an A4 size.
Sakanashi discloses having a size larger than an A4 size (In the present preferred embodiment, the maximum document size that can be scanned by the FBS method is A4, but the document of A3 size, which is greater than the A4 size, can be scanned by the ADF method, and the document of A3 size can be copied onto the recording paper of A3 size supplied from the manual paper feeding tray 43. Therefore, in the present preferred embodiment, the document of greater size as compared to the size of the document scanning surface 11a used in the FBS method can be copied. In other words, the multifunction peripheral 1 of the present preferred embodiment can respond to the scanning process of A3 size and the device main body 2 may become a compact size corresponding to the A4 size., par. 100).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include having a size larger than an A4 size in order to accommodate a size larger than A4 size as taught by Sakanashi (par. 100).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHARLOTTE M BAKER whose telephone number is (571)272-7459. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 8:00-5:00.
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/CHARLOTTE M BAKER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2664
15 September 2026
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