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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on June 7, 2026 has been entered.
Allowable Subject Matter
Prosecution on the merits of this application is reopened on claims 1, 2, 4-7 considered unpatentable for the reasons indicated below:
The indicated allowability of claims 1, 2, 4-7 is withdrawn in view of the newly discovered reference(s) to JP2001121763 mentioned in the NPL document of the Applicant’s recent IDS. Rejections based on the newly cited reference(s) follow.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
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.
Claims 1, 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sugiyama et al (JP 2001121763).
RE 1, Sugiyama discloses a printing device (16) comprising: a printing mechanism (1, 9) that performs printing on a long medium (3)(par 23-24); a medium transporting mechanism (23, 24) that transports the medium in a longitudinal direction of the medium (par 25, 27, 30); a cutting mechanism (8) that cuts the medium after printing in a width direction of the medium orthogonal to a transport direction of the medium (par 44); and a tension applying mechanism (27) that includes a tension bar (28) that comes into contact with the medium after printing and applies tension to the medium (par 50); wherein the medium transporting mechanism is disposed on an upstream side of the tension bar in a transport direction of the medium (Fig 4), the tension bar (28) is disposed between the printing mechanism (1, 9) and the cutting mechanism (8) in the transport direction of the medium (Fig 3), wherein the printing device is configured such that when the cutting mechanism cuts the medium, the medium is stopped at a position where the cutting mechanism performs the cutting (par 7, 8, 42-44, 57).
RE 4, wherein the tension applying mechanism (27) includes a biasing member (30) that biases the tension bar (28) in a direction of pressing the tension bar against the medium (Fig 4), and a bar holding portion (29) that movably holds the tension bar (28); and the tension bar is movable with respect to the bar holding portion to a biasing direction side and a side opposite to the biasing direction side of the tension bar by the biasing member (par 50-53).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Sugiyama in view of Masaru et al (JP2008302563).
Sugiyama discloses a printing device (16) comprising: a second medium transporting mechanism (6, 7) that transports the medium in a longitudinal direction of the medium, disposed on a downstream side of the tension bar (28) in a transport direction of the medium (Fig 4).
Sugiyama fails to disclose a second cutting mechanism that cuts the medium after printing along a transport direction of the medium; wherein the second medium transporting mechanism and the second cutting mechanism are disposed on a downstream side of the tension bar in a transport direction of the medium.
However, Masaru teaches a print kiosk terminal that includes a thermal head (5) to print on a roll paper (1) and a guide roller (12) that conveys the roll paper (1) downstream from the thermal head (5) to a first cutting mechanism (13) and a second cutting mechanism (14, 15) after printing (Fig 1). The first cutting mechanism (13) includes a fixed blade (36) and disk cutter (37) to cut in the width direction of the paper (Fig 8). The second cutting mechanism (14, 15) is upstream of the first cutting mechanism, and includes a cutter (50, 62) that cuts the paper (1) in the conveyance direction (D1) (fig 9-10, Fig 11) (pages 9-12).
Given the teachings of Masaru, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the printing device of Sugiyama with a second cutting mechanism that cuts the medium after printing along a transport direction of the medium.
Doing so would allow one or more images to be printed in the width direction of the paper shortening the printing time, and allowing for a plurality of small size images to be printed in parallel and separated for discharge without wasting paper.
Claims 5, 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Sugiyama in view of Toshio et al (JP2015137147).
Sugiyama discloses a printing device (16) comprising: a printing mechanism (1, 9) and a tension bar (28).
Sugiyama fails to disclose a heater for heating the medium after printing; and the heater is disposed between the printing mechanism and the tension bar in the transport direction of the medium; and the printing mechanism includes an inkjet head that ejects ink onto the medium, a carriage on which the inkjet head is mounted, and a carriage driving mechanism that moves the carriage in a main scanning direction that is a width direction of the medium.
However, Toshio teaches a recording device (1) recording on a roll (R1) with a recording head (4) mounted on a carriage (6) to discharge ink in the scanned direction (B) reciprocally while the roll is conveyed in a transport direction (A). After printing, a tension bar (9) applies tension as the medium is heated by a heater (5c) located between the inkjet head (4) and tension bar (9) (Fig 1).
Given the teachings of Toshio, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the printing device of Sugiyama with a heater for heating the medium after printing; and the heater is disposed between the printing mechanism and the tension bar in the transport direction of the medium; and the printing mechanism includes an inkjet head that ejects ink onto the medium, a carriage on which the inkjet head is mounted, and a carriage driving mechanism that moves the carriage in a main scanning direction that is a width direction of the medium.
Doing so would suppress absorption of moisture and deformation of medium in a roll state to set the discharged ink.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Sugiyama in view of Sakae (JP 2005263338).
Sugiyama discloses a the tension applying mechanism (27) includes a biasing member (30) that biases the tension bar (28) in a direction of pressing the tension bar against the medium (Fig 4).
Sugiyama fails to disclose a first sensor that detects a position of the tension bar on a biasing direction side by the biasing member, and a second sensor that detects a position of the tension bar on a side opposite to the biasing direction side.
However, Sakae teaches a printing device (fig 1) comprising: a printing mechanism (printing unit 9) that performs printing on a long medium ( belt-like printing paper 2); a medium transporting mechanism (reversing unit 13) that transports the medium in a longitudinal direction of the medium; a cutting mechanism (cutting unit 15) that cuts the medium after printing in a width direction of the medium orthogonal to a transport direction of the medium (Fig 2); and a tension applying mechanism (tension monitoring unit 14) that includes a tension bar (buffer arm 20) that comes into contact with the medium after printing and applies tension to the medium; wherein the medium transporting mechanism is disposed on an upstream side of the tension bar in a transport direction of the medium, and the tension bar (20)is disposed between the printing mechanism (9) and the cutting mechanism (15) in the transport direction of the medium (see translation page 5-6), wherein the tension applying mechanism (14) includes a biasing member (22) that biases the tension bar in a direction of pressing the tension bar against the medium (2), a first sensor (sensor 24) that detects a position of the tension bar on a biasing direction side by the biasing member, and a second sensor (sensor 25) that detects a position of the tension bar on a side opposite to the biasing direction side (page 5-6).
Given the teachings of Sakae, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the tension applying mechanism of Sugiyama with a first sensor that detects a position of the tension bar on a biasing direction side by the biasing member, and a second sensor that detects a position of the tension bar on a side opposite to the biasing direction side.
Doing so would detect the tension applied to the medium to control the cutting process. Cutting proceeds when the first sensor is active indicating enough tension is applied to the medium, and cutting stops when the second sensor indicates lack of tension in the medium.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Christle I. Marshall whose telephone number is (571) 270-3086. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday – Friday 7:30AM - 4:00PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Steven Paik can be reached on (571) 272-2404. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Christle I Marshall/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
Prosecution Insights