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 .
Priority
1. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Claims 1,5,6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Deno USP 8,820,738 in view of Ando et al. USP 12,037,218.
Deno discloses, regarding claim 1, A sheet conveying device, comprising:
a pair of conveying members (120) which nip and convey a sheet, the pair of conveying members being movably provided along a width direction of the sheet orthogonal to a conveying direction of the sheet;
a detection processing portion (143) which detects a deviation amount of the sheet conveyed by the pair of conveying members in the width direction (see S107 in fig.4, C12/L8-13);
a first movement processing portion (43; fig.3) which causes the pair of conveying members that are nipping the sheet to move along the width direction based on the deviation amount detected by the detection processing portion (see S108 in fig.4, C12/L13-19); and
a second movement processing portion which causes the pair of conveying members that have finished conveying the sheet to move to a predetermined reference position (see S112 in fig.4).
Regarding claim 6, An operation control method executed in a sheet conveying device including a pair of conveying members (120) which nip and convey a sheet, the pair of conveying members being movably provided along a width direction of the sheet orthogonal to a conveying direction of the sheet, the operation control method comprising:
a detection step of detecting a deviation amount of the sheet conveyed by the pair of conveying members in the width direction (see S107 in fig.4, C12/L8-13);
a first movement step of causing the pair of conveying members that are nipping the sheet to move along the width direction based on the deviation amount detected by the detection step (see S108 in fig.4, C12/L13-19); and
a second movement step of causing the pair of conveying members that have finished conveying the sheet to move to a predetermined reference position (see S112 in fig.4).
Deno does not expressly disclose the remaining limitations of the claims.
Ando teaches [regarding claim 1] the use of a determination processing portion (72; fig.9B) which determines whether or not a predetermined movement condition is satisfied when the pair of conveying members are moved by the first movement processing portion (C12/L17-20), and [regarding claim 6] a determination step of determining whether or not a predetermined movement condition is satisfied when the pair of conveying members are moved by the first movement step (C12/L17-20).
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to provide a determination processing portion which determines whether or not a predetermined movement condition is satisfied when the pair of conveying members are moved by the first movement processing portion, and a determination step of determining whether or not a predetermined movement condition is satisfied when the pair of conveying members are moved by the first movement step, as taught by Ando, in the device of Deno, with a reasonable expectation of success, for the purpose of accuracy of deviation correction can be improved (C12/L27-31).
Deno further discloses, regarding claim 5, An image forming apparatus (fig.10), comprising:
the sheet conveying device according to claim 1; and
an image forming portion (109) which forms an image on the sheet conveyed by the sheet conveying device (see S109 in fig.4).
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claims 2-4 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
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Fujita (USP 7,581,725) discloses a sheet conveying device comprising a pair of conveying members (1102), a detection processing portion (1104), and a movement processing portion (M1107) which causes the pair of conveying members to move the sheet (P) in a direction orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction (see at least fig.6,7).
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LESLIE A. NICHOLSON III whose telephone number is (571)272-5487. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael C McCullough can be reached at 571-272-7805. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LESLIE A NICHOLSON III/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3653 2/27/2026