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 pages 5-8, filed 12/26/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-6 under 35 USC 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of newly found prior art reference(s).
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) 1 and 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okura (US 2011/0279867) and further in view of Kitamura (JP 2015113196).
With regard to claim 1, Okura discloses a printing apparatus (P) [Fig. 1] comprising:
a feeding shaft (6) [Para. 0056] configured to support a roll body around which a medium (M) [print medium; Para. 0056] is wound;
a printing section (60) [plurality of inkjet heads; Para. 0046] configured to perform printing on the medium fed from the feeding shaft;
a tension applying unit (95) [tension applying mechanism; Para. 0058] configured to come into contact with the medium after the medium is fed out by the feeding shaft and before the medium reaches the printing section, thereby applying tension to the medium [Fig. 2]; and
a control unit (70) [Para. 0045], wherein
the tension applying unit includes:
a tension bar (91) configured to come into contact with the medium;
an arm (93) configured to support the tension bar and rotate to displace the tension bar; and
a stopper (2c) [stopper member; Para. 0063] configured to come into contact with the tension bar or the arm to restrict movement of the tension bar and the arm [Para. 0063].
Okura does not disclose an encoder configured to detect a rotational angle of the arm and that the control unit sets, as a reference angle of the arm, a rotational angle of the arm detected by the encoder in a state in which the tension bar or the arm is in contact with the stopper.
However, Kitamura teaches an encoder (15) and a swing lever rod (12) [Swing arm; Para. 0048] and Kitamura also teaches a control unit (60) [Para. 0047] that sets, as a reference angle of the arm (12) [swing arm; Para. 0048], a rotational angle of the arm detected by the encoder [tension calculator (13) of the control unit monitors the change in the swing angle of the swing arm detected by the encoder and corrects the swing angle; Para. 0048].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the printing apparatus taught by Okura with an encoder for the purpose of closing the position of the swinging shaft.
In addition, configuring the control unit to set a rotational angle as a reference angle of the arm in a state in which the tension bar or arm is in contact with a stopper for the purpose of controlling the measured value of tension to become the same as the target value.
With regard to claim 5, Okura's modified printing apparatus discloses all the limitations of claim 1, and Okura also discloses wherein the tension applying unit is a first tension applying unit (95) [tension applying mechanism; Para. 0058; Fig. 1],
the tension bar is a first tension bar (91),
the arm is a first arm (93),
the stopper is a first stopper (2c),
the printing apparatus includes:
a winding shaft (81) configured to support a roll body around which the medium on which printing is performed is wound [Fig. 1]; and
a second tension applying unit (125) [Fig. 1] configured to come into contact with the medium after the printing section performs printing on the medium and before the medium is wound by the winding shaft [Fig. 1], thereby applying tension to the medium,
the second tension applying unit includes:
a second tension bar (121) [Fig. 1] configured to come into contact with the medium;
a second arm (123) configured to support the second tension bar and rotate to displace the
second tension bar;
a second stopper (2c) [Fig. 7] configured to come into contact with the second tension bar or the second arm to restrict movement of the second tension bar and the second arm [Fig. 7], and
Okura does not disclose the encoder is a first encoder, a second encoder configured to detect a
rotational angle of the second arm; and the control unit sets, as a reference angle of the second arm, a rotational angle of the second arm detected by the second encoder in a state in which the second tension bar or the second arm is in contact with the second stopper.
However, Kitamura teaches a first encoder (15) and a swing lever rod (12) [swing arm; Para. 0048]. Kitamura also teaches a control unit (60) [Para. 0047] that sets, as a reference angle of the arm, a rotational angle of the arm detected by the encoder [tension calculator (13) of the control unit monitors the change in the swing angle of the swing arm detected by the encoder and corrects the swing angle; Para. 0048].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the printing apparatus taught by Okura with an encoder for the purpose of closing the position of the swinging shaft.
In addition, configuring the control unit to set a rotational angle as a reference angle of the arm in a state in which the tension bar or arm is in contact with a stopper for the purpose of controlling the measured value of tension to become the same as the target value.
Lastly, configuring the printing apparatus of Okura with a second encoder would be obvious to one skilled in the art, since the winding side tension applying means is disposed with a tension bar, a rotating shaft, an arm and stopper like the feeding side tension applying means and switching between a state in which the tension arms are engaged and disengaged with the arms to enable tension to be adjusted and prevent torque from being applied to the arms, respectively. It has been held that mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. St. Regis Paper Co. V. Bemis Co., 193 USPQ 8
With regard to claim 6, Okura discloses a method of controlling a printing apparatus, the printing apparatus (P) [Fig. 1] including:
a feeding shaft (6) [Para. 0056 ] configured to support a roll body around which a medium (M) [print medium; Para. 0056] is wound;
a printing section (60) [plurality of inkjet heads; Para. 0046] configured to perform printing on the medium fed from the feeding shaft;
a tension applying unit (95) [tension applying mechanism; Para. 0058] configured to come into contact with the medium after the medium is fed out by the feeding shaft and before the medium reaches the printing section, thereby applying tension to the medium [Fig. 2]; and
the tension applying unit includes:
a tension bar (91) configured to come into contact with the medium;
an arm (93) configured to support the tension bar and rotate to displace the tension bar; and
a stopper (2c) [stopper member; Para. 0063] configured to come into contact with the tension bar or the arm to restrict movement of the tension bar and the arm [Para. 0063],
the method including:
causing the tension bar or the arm to come into contact with the stopper [Para. 0063].
Okura does not disclose an encoder configured to detect a rotational angle of the arm and does not disclose setting, as a reference angle of the arm, a rotational angle of the arm detected by the encoder in a state in which the tension bar or the arm is in contact with the stopper.
However, Jin teaches an encoder (15) and a swing lever rod (12) [swing arm; Para. 0048]. Kitamura also teaches a control unit (60) [Para. 0047] that sets, as a reference angle of the arm, a rotational angle of the arm detected by the encoder [tension calculator (13) of the control unit monitors the change in the swing angle of the swing arm detected by the encoder and corrects the swing angle; Para. 0048].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the printing apparatus taught by Okura with an encoder for the purpose of closing the position of the swinging shaft.
In addition, configuring the control unit to set a rotational angle as a reference angle of the arm in a state in which the tension bar or arm is in contact with a stopper for the purpose of controlling the measured value of tension to become the same as the target value.
Claim(s) 2-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okura (US 2011/0279867) in view of Kitamura (JP 2015113196) and further in view of Jin (CN 211897142).
With regard to claim 2, Okura's modified printing apparatus discloses all the limitations of claim 1, and Okura also discloses wherein the tension bar is disposed such that the medium is looped over from below [Fig. 1] but does not disclose a stopper comes in contact with the tension bar or the arm from above.
However, Jin teaches a stopper comes in contact with the tension bar or the arm from above [shaft (110) of the regulating member (111) comes into contact with the upper end of the guide hole (160), the movement of one end of the regulating member to the downstream and upward is restricted; Fig. 4].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the printing apparatus of Okura with a stopper that comes in contact with the tension bar or the arm from above as taught by Jin for the purpose of limiting the rotating range of the arm/swinging rod.
With regard to claim 3, Okura's modified printing apparatus discloses all the limitations of claim 2, and Jin also discloses wherein the stopper is an upper-side stopper [Fig. 4], and Okura discloses the tension applying unit includes a lower-side stopper (2c) configured to come into contact with the tension bar or the arm from below [Fig. 6b].
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okura (US 2011/0279867) in view of Kitamura (JP 2015113196) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Akahane (US 2019/0344595).
With regard to claim 4, Okura's modified printing apparatus discloses all the limitations of claim 1 but does not disclose further comprising: a motor configured to rotate the arm, wherein the arm rotates to move the tension bar upward and downward, and the control unit controls the motor to cause the tension bar or the arm to come into contact with the stopper.
However, Akahane teaches a motor (56) configured to rotate an arm (54), wherein the arm rotates to move a tension bar (55) upward and downward [Para. 0097; Figs. 15-16], and a control unit (41) controls the motor to cause the tension bar or the arm to come into contact with the stopper [Para. 0095].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the printing apparatus of Okura with a motor a motor configured to rotate the arm to move the tension bar upward and downward, and configure the control unit to control the motor to cause the tension bar or the arm to come into contact with the stopper for the purpose of transmitting a rotation force to pivot the shaft together with the arm and as a result to impart a rotation force to the tension bar supported by the arm.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okura (US 2011/0279867) in view of Kitamura (JP 2015113196), and in view of Akahane (US 2019/0344595) as applied to claim 4 above and further in view of Teoh (US 2020/0023873).
With regard to claim 7, Okura’s modified printing apparatus discloses all the limitations of claim 4 but does not disclose wherein the control unit detects that the tension bar or the arm is in contact with the stopper on the basis of a torque of the motor.
However, Teoh teaches a controller (104) determining that an accessory is present based on the torque signature of a motor [the pick arm rests on the surface of an accessory such as a media bin; Para. 0029].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to detect the contact of a tension bar or arm with a stopper on the basis of a torque of a motor for the purpose of determining when the tension bar or arm may remain in the rest position during the printing operation.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TRACEY M MCMILLION whose telephone number is (571)270-5193. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 6AM-2:30PM EST.
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/TRACEY M MCMILLION/Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/RICARDO I MAGALLANES/Supervisor Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2853