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 § 102
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 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.
4. Claims 1,4,6,7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Suwa USP 11,530,101.
Suwa discloses, regarding claim 1, A document transport device comprising:
an operation device (416) configured to receive a document reading instruction;
a document placement tray (30) configured to be raised and lowered with a document placed thereon;
a document detection sensor (10) configured to detect presence or absence of a document on the document placement tray;
a document discharge tray (17);
a document transport mechanism including a feeding roller (1) provided above the document placement tray and configured to feed a document placed on the document placement tray sheet by sheet and a document reading device (202) configured to read an image of the document fed by the feeding roller, the document transport mechanism being configured to transport the document fed by the feeding roller to a reading position on the document reading device and discharge the document to the document discharge tray;
an elevating mechanism (312; fig.5) configured to raise the document placement tray from a lower limit position (fig.6) in the raising and lowering of the document placement tray to an upper limit position (fig.7) where a top surface of an uppermost sheet of the document placed on the document placement tray is pressed against the feeding roller; and
a controller configured to, when the document detection sensor has detected a document on the document placement tray, control driving of the elevating mechanism to temporarily raise the document placement tray to the upper limit position (C10/L38-49, C15/L23-27, S203 in fig.12) and then move the document placement tray from the upper limit position to a standby position (C15/L27-47, fig.11, S204 in fig.12) which is a predetermined distance below the upper limit position and stop moving the document placement tray, and when the document transport mechanism has transported the document fed by the feeding roller to the reading position upon the operation device receiving a document reading instruction, cause the elevating mechanism to raise the document placement tray again to the upper limit position (C15/L44-48, S210 in fig.12),
wherein the standby position is set to a predetermined position between the upper limit position and the lower limit position (see at least C14/L37-44).
Regarding claim 4, wherein the controller is configured to raise the document placement tray to the upper limit position after a predetermined time elapses from when the document detection sensor detects a document on the document placement tray (C10/L53-56).
Regarding claim 6, wherein the controller is configured to, when a document on the document placement tray is not detected by the document detection sensor, control driving of the elevating mechanism to lower the document placement tray that has been on standby at the standby position to the lower limit position (see at least C10/L38-40).
Regarding claim 7, An image forming apparatus (180; fig.4B) comprising:
the document transport device according to claim 1; and
an image forming device (PU) configured to form an image on a recording medium.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
6. Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suwa USP 11,530,101.
Suwa discloses substantially all the limitations of the claims (see ¶4 above) and further discloses wherein the controller is configured to cause the elevating mechanism to raise and lower the document placement tray with the standby position set to a position that is between the upper limit position and the lower limit position (see at least C14/L34-51), but does not expressly disclose the standby position being closer to the upper limit position than to the lower limit position. However, because Suwa discloses the standby position being set for quick positioning of the tray from the standby position to the upper limit position (C14/L53-56), before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art for the standby position to be closer to the upper limit position than to the lower limit position for the purpose of mimimize, as much as possible, the time to move the tray from the standby position to the upper limit position.
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 3,5 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
8. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Samato (USP 6,354,586) discloses a document placement tray (4) that is positionable between a lower position (fig.1) in which the sheet stack is in a position away from the sheet feed roller (7), an upper position (fig.9) when the sheet stack is in contact with the sheet feed roller, and a standby position (fig.10) which is a position between the upper position and the lower position (see at least Abstract).
9. 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.
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.
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 3/26/2026
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