DETAILED ACTION
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.
Claims 1-6, 8-15, 17 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsui (US Pub. 2020/0299089) in view of Machida et al. (US Pat. 7,490,828) hereinafter Machida.
Regarding claim 1 and 10, Matsui discloses an image forming apparatus (100) comprising:
a medium stacking device comprising:
a supply unit (8; Figs. 3, 6) configured to supply air to a plurality of stacked recording media from an edge side of the recording media to make the recording media float and separated; (see [0049]-[0051])
an image capturing unit (9/9a) configured to capture an image of the plurality of recording media to which air is supplied by the supply unit from the edge side; ([0057]-[0059])
a moving unit (5; Fig. 3) configured to move in response to a moving operation by a user; ([0031]-[0032]) and
an image forming unit (e.g., 4c, 4d; [0028]-[0029]) configured to form an image on a recording medium fed from the medium stacking device.
Matsui discloses the claimed invention but does not explicitly recite a cleaning unit configured to clean the image capturing unit in conjunction with the movement of the moving unit.
Machida similarly teaches an image forming apparatus (102; Fig. 10) and medium stacking device including an image capturing unit (18) configured to capture an image of a plurality of recording media; (Figs. 1-2, 5) a moving unit (40/80) configured to move in response to a moving operation by a user and a cleaning unit (84) configured to clean the image capturing unit in conjunction with the movement of the moving unit. (Figs. 7A-C; C6/58-C7/L8)
In view of Machida’s teaching, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide Matsui’s disclosed image forming apparatus with a cleaning unit configured to clean the image capturing unit in conjunction with the movement of the moving unit for the purpose of providing a passive means to frequently wipe contaminants such as paper dust, ink, toner particles off of the image capturing unit ensuring consistent and accurate detection of the blown sheets during sheet feeding operations.
Regarding claim 2, Matsui as modified above teaches a feeding unit (Matsui 6, 7; Figs. 4, 6, & 9) configured to feed a topmost recording medium separated by the supply unit in a feeding direction, (Matsui [0047]-[0048]) wherein the moving unit is a stacking unit (5) on which the plurality of recording media are stacked, the stacking unit being operated by the user to be pulled out from and inserted into a device main body when the recording media are replenished, (Matsui [0031]-[0032]) and the cleaning unit (taught by Machida) cleans the image capturing unit in conjunction with movement of the stacking unit on which the operations of pulling out from and inserting into the device main body are performed (taught by Machida; C6/58-C7/L8).
Regarding claim 3, Matsui as modified above teaches wherein the cleaning unit cleans the image capturing unit in conjunction with both of movement of the stacking unit for the pulling out and movement of the stacking unit for the insertion. (As taught by Machida; Figs. 7A-7C, C6/58-C7/L8)
Regarding claim 4, Matsui as modified above teaches wherein the cleaning unit cleans the image capturing unit by reciprocating while being in contact with the image capturing unit, while the movement of the stacking unit for the pulling out or the insertion is made once. (Fully capable based on Machida’s teaching above, the claimed ‘movement’ for pulling out or insertion has not been defined in the claim and a user is capable of moving/reciprocating the stacking unit during a pull out or insertion operation to have the cleaning unit clean the image capturing unit by reciprocating; see MPEP2114(II))
Regarding claim 5, Matsui as modified above teaches wherein the cleaning unit cleans the image capturing unit by reciprocating a plurality of times while being in contact with the image capturing unit, while the movement of the stacking unit for the pulling out or the insertion is made once. (Fully capable based on Machida’s teaching above, the claimed ‘movement’ for pulling out or insertion has not been defined in the claim and a user is capable of moving/reciprocating the stacking unit during a pull out or insertion operation to have the cleaning unit clean the image capturing unit by reciprocating a plurality of times; see MPEP2114(II))
Regarding claim 6, Matsui as modified above teaches wherein the image capturing unit (9/9a; Matsui) is provided to the stacking unit, (Matsui [0034], [0057]) and moves integrally with the stacking unit on which the operations for the pulling out and the insertion are performed. (Matsui; fully capable based on disclosed structure [0033], [0034] & [0057]; Figs. 2, 3)
Regarding claim 8, Matsui as modified above teaches wherein a state where the stacking unit is inserted in the device main body, the cleaning unit is located at a non-contact position where the cleaning unit is not in contact with the image capturing unit. (As taught by Machida Fig. 7C (or 7A) depicting relative position between cleaning unit and image capturing unit)
Regarding claim 9, Matsui as modified above teaches wherein the cleaning unit at the non-contact position is located outside an image capturing region of the image capturing unit. (As taught by Machida Fig. 7C (or 7A) depicting relative position between cleaning unit and image capturing unit, otherwise would interfere with image capture of media)
Regarding claim 11, Matsui as modified above teaches an image forming apparatus comprising: the medium stacking device according to claim 2 (see rejection above); and an image forming unit (e.g., 4c, 4d; [0028]-[0029]) configured to form an image on a recording medium fed from the medium stacking device.
Regarding claim 12, Matsui as modified above teaches an image forming apparatus comprising: the medium stacking device according to claim 3 (see rejection above); and an image forming unit (e.g., 4c, 4d; [0028]-[0029]) configured to form an image on a recording medium fed from the medium stacking device.
Regarding claim 13, Matsui as modified above teaches an image forming apparatus comprising: the medium stacking device according to claim 4 (see rejection above); and an image forming unit (e.g., 4c, 4d; [0028]-[0029]) configured to form an image on a recording medium fed from the medium stacking device.
Regarding claim 14, Matsui as modified above teaches an image forming apparatus comprising: the medium stacking device according to claim 5 (see rejection above); and an image forming unit (e.g., 4c, 4d; [0028]-[0029]) configured to form an image on a recording medium fed from the medium stacking device.
Regarding claim 15, Matsui as modified above teaches an image forming apparatus comprising: the medium stacking device according to claim 6 (see rejection above); and an image forming unit (e.g., 4c, 4d; [0028]-[0029]) configured to form an image on a recording medium fed from the medium stacking device.
Regarding claim 17, Matsui as modified above teaches an image forming apparatus comprising: the medium stacking device according to claim 8 (see rejection above); and an image forming unit (e.g., 4c, 4d; [0028]-[0029]) configured to form an image on a recording medium fed from the medium stacking device.
Regarding claim 18, Matsui as modified above teaches an image forming apparatus comprising: the medium stacking device according to claim 9 (see rejection above); and an image forming unit (e.g., 4c, 4d; [0028]-[0029]) configured to form an image on a recording medium fed from the medium stacking device.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7 and 16 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Ernesto Suarez whose telephone number is (571)270-5565. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9-5:30.
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.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ERNESTO A SUAREZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3655
Prosecution Insights