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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I in the reply filed on 1/13/26 is acknowledged.
Claims 5-12 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 1/13/26.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
Claim 2 is 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. “With respect to the top plate” is not clear in its context.
Dependent claims 3-4 are considered rejected for incorporating defects from rejected parent claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Watanabe (WO 2025028504 A1) in view of Kanda et al. (US 2014/0225972 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Watanabe discloses A printing device (1, fig. 1), comprising (Note that many parts of claim 1 are functional language. Therefore, the prior art merely needs to be capable of performing the functional language in order to read on it.):
a print head mechanism (Fig. 7. See translation. More specific citation is not possible due to the paragraph numbers not being present in the translation.) comprising a mounting bracket (38, fig. 7), a print head module (18, fig. 7) and a guide member (1811, fig. 7, translation), wherein the mounting bracket is fixed on the printing device (inherent in Watanabe), the print head module is fixed on the mounting bracket (see fig. 7 and translation), the print head module prints a pattern on a print medium (inherent in Watanabe), and the guide member is fixed on the mounting bracket (see fig. 7, translation); and
a platen roller (23, fig. 3, translation) fixed on the printing device (see fig. 3), wherein when the print head module prints the pattern on the print medium, the print medium is pressed by the platen roller (inherent in Watanabe since printhead 18 is a thermal printhead),
wherein when the printing device performs a printing operation, the platen roller is rotated in a first rotating direction (forward direction; inherent in fig. 2,3), and the print medium is moved from the print head module to the guide member (inherent in fig. 7), so that the pattern is printed on the print medium by the print head module (inherent in Watanabe),
wherein when the printing device performs a detecting process (A detecting process does not appear to be taught by Watanabe. However, it is taught by Kanda. See below.), the platen roller is rotated in a second rotating direction (Watanabe is capable of rotating the platen roller in a reverse direction. See translation.), and the print medium is contacted with a bottom side of the guide member and moved toward the platen roller (Watanabe teaches: "A protrusion 1811 that protrudes downward so as to cover the tip of the first substrate portion 183a is formed at the tip of the heat sink 181. This makes it possible to prevent jams from occurring when the continuous paper CP (especially in the case of thick paper) is backfed (conveyed in the reverse direction)."), wherein after a rear end of the print medium is contacted with the platen roller, the print medium is moved along a circumferential direction of the platen roller and transferred through a region under the print head module (This is inherent in Watanabe. Otherwise, 1811 would not be needed to prevent paper jams.), and the print medium is transferred to a detection region (Taught by Kanda. See below.), wherein the first rotating direction and the second rotating direction are opposite to each other (inherent in Watanabe).
Watanabe fails to disclose the following italicized parts: wherein when the printing device performs a detecting process (A detecting process does not appear to be taught by Watanabe. However, it is taught by Kanda. See below.), the platen roller is rotated in a second rotating direction (Watanabe is capable of rotating the platen roller in a reverse direction. See translation.), and the print medium is contacted with a bottom side of the guide member and moved toward the platen roller (Watanabe teaches: "A protrusion 1811 that protrudes downward so as to cover the tip of the first substrate portion 183a is formed at the tip of the heat sink 181. This makes it possible to prevent jams from occurring when the continuous paper CP (especially in the case of thick paper) is backfed (conveyed in the reverse direction)."), wherein after a rear end of the print medium is contacted with the platen roller, the print medium is moved along a circumferential direction of the platen roller and transferred through a region under the print head module (This is inherent in Watanabe. Otherwise, 1811 would not be needed to prevent paper jams.), and the print medium is transferred to a detection region (Taught by Kanda. See below.), wherein the first rotating direction and the second rotating direction are opposite to each other (inherent in Watanabe)
However, Watanabe, as modified by Kanda, teaches the italicized parts: wherein when the printing device performs a detecting process (Fig. 3 and para 51-52 of Kanda discloses: "A sensor unit 100 (equivalent to the detecting part) for optically detecting the mark PM of the above described print-receiving tape 3A is disposed on this sensor disposing part 102."), the platen roller is rotated in a second rotating direction (Watanabe is capable of rotating the platen roller in a reverse direction. See translation.), and the print medium is contacted with a bottom side of the guide member and moved toward the platen roller (Watanabe teaches: "A protrusion 1811 that protrudes downward so as to cover the tip of the first substrate portion 183a is formed at the tip of the heat sink 181. This makes it possible to prevent jams from occurring when the continuous paper CP (especially in the case of thick paper) is backfed (conveyed in the reverse direction)."), wherein after a rear end of the print medium is contacted with the platen roller, the print medium is moved along a circumferential direction of the platen roller and transferred through a region under the print head module (This is inherent in Watanabe. Otherwise, 1811 would not be needed to prevent paper jams.), and the print medium is transferred to a detection region (See Kanda’s fig. 3 and para 51-52), wherein the first rotating direction and the second rotating direction are opposite to each other (inherent in Watanabe).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Watanabe with the teachings of Kanda, for the purpose of more precise feeding of the print medium.
Regarding claim 2, Watanabe, as modified by Kanda, further discloses The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the mounting bracket further comprises a top plate (see Watanabe’s 381, fig. 7, translation) and two side plates (see Watanabe’s 382, fig. 7), and the top plate has a top surface and a bottom surface (see Watanabe’s fig. 7), wherein the top surface and the bottom surface are opposed to each other with respect to the top plate (see Watanabe’s fig. 7), the two side plates are respectively extended from two opposite sides of the top plate in a direction away from the bottom surface of the top plate (see Watanabe’s fig. 7), and the two side plates face each other (see Watanabe’s fig. 7).
Regarding claim 3, Watanabe, as modified by Kanda, further discloses The printing device according to claim 2, wherein there is a vertical distance between the top surface of the top plate and a bottom side of the guide member (see Watanabe’s fig. 7).
Regarding claim 4, Watanabe, as modified by Kanda, further discloses The printing device according to claim 3, wherein the vertical distance is in a range between 6.8mm and 7.0mm (It would have been an obvious matter of design choice to set such dimensions of the printing device for the purpose of optimizing the size of the printing device for its intended purpose, since such a modification would have involved a mere change in the size of a component. A change in size is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art. In re Rose, 105 USPQ 237 (CCPA 1955).).
Conclusion
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/JUSTIN SEO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
March 7, 2026