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 INTERPRETATION
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are: “a control portion” in claim 1.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
“a control portion” in claim 1 is read as the CPU (Fig.1, item 8).
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
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.
Claims 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inoue’992 (US 2008/0006992), and further in view of Inoue’214 (US 2006/0017214).
With respect to claim 1, Inoue’992 teaches an image reading apparatus (Fig.1), comprising:
a plurality of sets of conveying roller pairs (Fig.11, items 10, 21, 22, and 30) which convey a document sheet along a conveying path (Fig.11);
an image sensor which reads an image from the document sheet at a reading position on the conveying path (paragraph 55);
two document sheet sensors (Fig.11, items 27a, 27b, 28a and 28b) capable of detecting the document sheet at two positions along boundaries of a reference pass-through area of the document sheet at a detection position more on an upstream side of a conveying direction of the document sheet than the reading position on the conveying path (paragraphs 69 and 89); and
a control portion (Fig.3, item CPU) which controls operations of the plurality of sets of conveying roller pairs [as shown in Fig.3, the CPU control all of the operations], wherein
the plurality of sets of conveying roller pairs (Fig.11, items 10, 21, 22, and 30) include two sets of independent roller pairs which are arranged with an interval provided therebetween in a width direction intersecting with the conveying direction at positions between the detection position and the reading position on the conveying path (Fig.11), and rotation speeds of the two sets of independent roller pairs can be changed independently (paragraph 60), and
Inoue’992 does not teach the control portion changes, when the document sheet is detected by one of the two document sheet sensors, a speed ratio of the two sets of independent roller pairs from a preset reference ratio to a correction ratio corresponding to a detection status of the two document sheet sensors during an adjustment period that lasts until the document sheet is no longer detected by both of the two document sheet sensors.
Inoue’214 teaches a sheet position detection sensor (Fig.6A, 6B, 6C and 6D, item 4) is being used to detect the position of a sheet in the direction intersecting with a conveying direction by detecting an end of a sheet (hereafter referred to as side of sheet) parallel with the conveying direction of a sheet currently conveyed and a skew of the sheet is being corrected according to the detection of the sheet position (Fig.6A, 6B, 6C and 6D).
Therefore, 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 the invention of Inoue’992 according to the teaching of Inoue’214 to include sheet position detection sensors to detect the right side and left side of a sheet to correct skew of the sheet because this will allow the scanned image of the sheet to be generated more effective.
The combination of Inoue’992 and Inoue’214 does not teach the control portion changes, when the document sheet is detected by one of the two document sheet sensors, a speed ratio of the two sets of independent roller pairs from a preset reference ratio to a correction ratio corresponding to a detection status of the two document sheet sensors during an adjustment period that lasts until the document sheet is no longer detected by both of the two document sheet sensors.
Since Inoue’992 has suggested that the pair of sensors (Fig.6, items 27b, 27a, and 28a and 28b) for detecting the position of the right side and the left side of the sheet to enable a controller to control the speed of the motors (Fig.6, items 11, 12, 23 and 24) for controlling the rotation speeds of the rollers (Fig.6, item 10 and 21 and 22) to correct skew of the sheet and Inoue’214 teaches a sheet position detection sensor (Fig.6A, 6B, 6C and 6D, item 4) is being used to detect the position of a sheet in the direction intersecting with a conveying direction by detecting an end of a sheet (hereafter referred to as side of sheet) parallel with the conveying direction of a sheet currently conveyed and a skew of the sheet is being corrected according to the detection of the sheet position (Fig.6A, 6B, 6C and 6D), therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to recognize to include a pair of sheet position detection sensors to detect the position of a sheet in the direction intersecting with a conveying direction by detecting an end of a sheet (hereafter referred to as side of sheet) parallel with the conveying direction of a sheet currently conveyed and to control the rollers to correct skew of the sheet according the detection of sheet position detection sensor such that the pair of sheet position detection sensors are not able to detect both of the sides of the sheet (the control portion changes, when the document sheet is detected by one of the two document sheet sensors, a speed ratio of the two sets of independent roller pairs from a preset reference ratio to a correction ratio corresponding to a detection status of the two document sheet sensors during an adjustment period that lasts until the document sheet is no longer detected by both of the two document sheet sensors) because this will allow the scanned image of the sheet to be generated more effective.
Therefore, 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 the combination of Inoue’992 and Inoue’214 to include a pair of sheet position detection sensors to detect the position of a sheet in the direction intersecting with a conveying direction by detecting an end of a sheet (hereafter referred to as side of sheet) parallel with the conveying direction of a sheet currently conveyed and to control the rollers to correct skew of the sheet according the detection of sheet position detection sensor such that the pair of sheet position detection sensors are not able to detect both of the sides of the sheet (the control portion changes, when the document sheet is detected by one of the two document sheet sensors, a speed ratio of the two sets of independent roller pairs from a preset reference ratio to a correction ratio corresponding to a detection status of the two document sheet sensors during an adjustment period that lasts until the document sheet is no longer detected by both of the two document sheet sensors) because this will allow the scanned image of the sheet to be generated more effective.
With respect to claim 2, which further limits claim 1, Inoue’992 teaches wherein during the adjustment period, the control portion causes a target roller pair corresponding to one of the two document sheet sensors that has detected the document sheet out of the two sets of independent roller pairs to operate at a speed lower than that before the adjustment period (paragraph 90).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inoue’992 (US 2008/0006992), Inoue’214 (US 2006/0017214) and further in view of
Motoyama’450 (US 2018/0227450).
With respect to claim 3, which further limits claim 1, the combination of Inoue’992 and Inoue’214 does not teach wherein the control portion records correction performance information representing a length of the adjustment period and the correction ratio used during the adjustment period in a nonvolatile storage device, and is capable of executing calibration processing for setting the reference ratio based on the correction performance information.
Motoyama’450 teaches wherein the control portion records correction performance information representing a length of the adjustment period and the correction ratio used during the adjustment period in a nonvolatile storage device, and is capable of executing calibration processing for setting the reference ratio based on the correction performance information (claim 4).
Therefore, 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 the combination of Inoue’992 and Inoue’214 according to the teaching of Motoyama’450 to store the skew setting parameter for correcting the skew of next document because this will allow the document to be skewed more effectively for scanning.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inoue’992 (US 2008/0006992), Inoue’214 (US 2006/0017214) and further in view of
Ide’935 (US 2007/0273935).
With respect to claim 4, which further limits claim 1, the combination of Inoue’992 and Inoue’214 does no teach wherein each of the two document sheet sensors is a transmissive photosensor which includes a light-emitting portion and a light-receiving portion arranged opposed to each other via the conveying path.
Ide’935 teaches wherein each of the two document sheet sensors is a transmissive photosensor which includes a light-emitting portion and a light-receiving portion arranged opposed to each other via the conveying path (paragraph 138).
Therefore, 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 the combination of Inoue’992 and Inoue’214 according to the teaching of Ide’935 to use the light-emitting sensor and the light-receiving sensor to detect the document because this will allow this will allow the document to be skewed more effectively for scanning.
Contact
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUO LONG CHEN whose telephone number is (571)270-3759. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9am - 5pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tieu, Benny can be reached on (571) 272-7490. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/HUO LONG CHEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2682