DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 2 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding Claim 2, it is claimed that walls support the rotation shaft hermetically however it is not understood how walls alone can perform this function.
Claim 3 is rejected by dependency.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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, 9 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ishikawa et al. (US Patent No. 4,838,534).
Regarding Claim 1, Ishikawa et al. discloses
an accommodating unit (i.e. ‘A’, Fig. 1, excluding the entire conveyor structure extending from 56 leftwards in Fig. 6) including a case (i.e. chassis comprising 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 85) forming an enclosed accommodating space configured to accommodate a sheet, a sheet discharge port (i.e. between 61 and 62 in Fig. 6) formed in a part of the case and through which the sheet is discharged outside from the case, and a sheet feed portion (40) configured to feed the sheet accommodated in the case to an outside of the case through the sheet discharge port; and
a conveyance unit (i.e. the entire conveyor structure extending from 56 leftwards in Fig. 6) connected to the sheet discharge port of the accommodating unit and configured to convey the sheet discharged from the sheet discharge port,
wherein the conveyance unit includes a first guide member (65c), a second guide member (73), walls on both sides (65a, 65b), a conveyance roller (68a), and a first cover (i.e. the bottom outer wall of the conveyor section, from which 66 extends downwards, see Fig. 6),
wherein the first guide member includes a first opening (i.e. ‘aperture’, see lines 38-40 of Column 13),
wherein the second guide member is arranged to face the first guide member (i.e. lines 28-32 of Column 14),
wherein the walls on both sides are arranged on both sides of the first guide member and the second guide member in a width direction perpendicular to a sheet conveyance direction (i.e. see Fig. 7),
wherein, together with the first guide member and the second guide member, the walls on both sides forms a space of a conveyance path through which the sheet is conveyed (i.e. lines 28-32 of Column 14, wherein the walls lead right to the top of 65c, such as to partly define the space of the passage, through which the sheet is conveyed),
wherein the conveyance roller is disposed to project toward the conveyance path via the first opening and configured to convey the sheet in the conveyance path (i.e. 68a extends upwardly through the aperture, see lines 38-40 of Column 13), and
wherein the first cover encloses the space of the conveyance path in such a manner that the first cover covers the first opening and the conveyance roller (i.e. since no direction, frame of reference or line of sight is specified by the claim, it may be construed that when looking upwards from below in Fig. 6, the bottom outer wall of the conveyor section covers the first opening and the conveyance roller, or any line of sight may be chosen such as to fulfill this requirement).
Regarding Claim 9, Ishikawa et al. discloses
an accommodating unit (i.e. ‘A’, Fig. 1, excluding the entire conveyor structure extending from 56 leftwards in Fig. 6) including a case (i.e. chassis comprising 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 85) forming an enclosed accommodating space configured to accommodate a sheet, a sheet discharge port (i.e. between 61 and 62 in Fig. 6) formed in a part of the case and through which the sheet is discharged outside from the case, and a sheet feed portion (40) configured to feed the sheet accommodated in the case to an outside of the case through the sheet discharge port; and
a conveyance unit (i.e. the entire conveyor structure extending from 56 leftwards in Fig. 6) connected to the sheet discharge port of the accommodating unit and configured to convey the sheet discharged from the sheet discharge port,
wherein the conveyance unit includes a first guide member (65c), a second guide member (73), walls on both sides (65a, 65b), a detection portion (S6), and a cover (i.e. the bottom outer wall of the conveyor section, from which 66 extends downwards, see Fig. 6),
wherein the first guide member includes an opening (i.e. see the break in shading depicted in the lower guide just above S6 in Fig. 6),
wherein the second guide member is arranged to face the first guide member (i.e. lines 28-32 of Column 14),
wherein the walls on both sides are arranged on both sides of the first guide member and the second guide member in a width direction perpendicular to a sheet conveyance direction (i.e. see Fig. 7),
wherein, together with the first guide member and the second guide member, the walls on both sides forms a space of a conveyance path through which the sheet is conveyed (i.e. lines 28-32 of Column 14, wherein the walls lead right to the top of 65c, such as to partly define the space of the passage, through which the sheet is conveyed),
wherein the detection portion is configured to detect the sheet conveyed in the conveyance path via the opening (i.e. see lines 40-43 in Column 17), and
wherein the cover encloses the space of the conveyance path in such a manner that the cover covers the opening and the detection portion (i.e. since no direction, frame of reference or line of sight is specified by the claim, it may be construed that when looking upwards from below in Fig. 6, the bottom outer wall of the conveyor section covers the opening and the detection portion, or any line of sight may be chosen such as to fulfill this requirement).
Regarding Claim 10, Ishikawa et al. discloses
an image forming apparatus (i.e. image forming machine B, also see Abstract) forming an image on the sheet fed from the sheet feeding apparatus.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-8 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: None of the prior art of record shows walls to extend from a second guide member toward a first guide member as claimed (Claims 2 and 3), a second cover as defined (Claims 4 and 5), a third cover as defined (Claims 6 and 7) or a sealing member as defined (Claim 8), in combination with the remaining elements.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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/PRASAD V GOKHALE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3653 August 15, 2025