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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the convex/concave shape arrangements must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 10 recite the “inner inside wall having a convex shape in a first direction” and “an outer inside wall spaced apart from the inner inside wall in the first direction and having a concave shape”.
The inner inside wall is described as 307, while the outer inside wall, 306. [0043] “The inner inside wall 307 has a convex shape in the −Y direction (first direction), and the outer inside wall 306 is spaced apart from the inner inside wall 307 in the −Y direction (first direction) and has a concave shape.”
In fig. 3 seen below, the inner 307 and outer 306 are generally parallel and follow the same contour.
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The Specification does not describe the inner inside wall having a convex shape while the outer inside wall has a concave shape. Therefore, the Specification does not provide support for the claimed limitation.
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.
Claims 1-10 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.
It is unclear what is meant by the convex and concave shapes of the walls, and how the two walls can have convex and concave shapes.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 10 are objected to because of the following informalities:
The language “gap between them” is indefinite since it is unclear what is meant by “them”. It is suggested that “them” be replaced with “the outer inside wall and the driving roller” for clarification.
Appropriate correction is required.
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) 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Uematsu (U.S. 20100073700 A1).
Uematsu discloses, with regards to claim:
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1. A recording apparatus comprising:
a feeding unit (separation slope surface 60) configured to feed a recording medium (P);
a recording unit (printing head 35) configured to record an image on the recording medium;
a conveyance path (75) including a curved portion formed by an inner inside wall (inner guide surface 53b) having a convex shape in a first direction and an outer inside wall (outer guide surface 53a) spaced apart from the inner inside wall in the first direction and having a concave shape, the conveyance path being configured to guide the recording medium fed by the feeding unit to the recording unit;
a first conveyor (40) provided in the conveyance path and including a first driving roller (40a) configured to be driven by a driving source and a driven roller (40b) configured to nip the recording medium together with the first driving roller, and
a second conveyor including a second driving roller (65) provided on the inner inside wall of the curved portion upstream of the first driving roller in a conveying direction and configured to be driven by a driving source,
wherein the second driving roller faces the outer inside wall in the first direction with a gap between them (fig. 3, the roller 65 has a gap between itself and the outer inside wall 53a).
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2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second driving roller (65) is provided at an end portion in the first direction of the inner inside wall (53b, roller 65 is provided on the wall 53b at an end portion of the wall surface).
3. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an end portion in the first direction of an outer circumference surface of the second driving roller is closer to the outer inside wall than the end portion in the first direction of the inner inside wall (the end of the second driving roller 65 is closer to the outer inside wall 53a than the inner inside wall 53b, “driven roller 65 is provided on the downstream side of the first intermediate transport roller 57 so as to reduce a load generated when the paper sheet P passes through the curved inverse path 53.”, as apparent from the fig., the roller 65 is closer to the outer inside wall, and would be positioned as such so as to project into the space sufficiently to act on the sheet enough to reduce a load when the sheet passes 53).
4. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a storage for storing a recording medium (cassette 17), wherein the curved portion is located above the storage (fig. 3), an upstream end of the curved portion in the conveying direction (near 55) and the storage are connected by a slope (60) inclined along the first direction, and at least a part of the second driving roller (65) is located on a side near the outer inside wall (53a) with respect to an imaginary plane that is an imaginary extension of the slope to an inside of the curved portion (see fig. below, where arrow represents an extension of the slope to an inside of the curved portion, the claim language does not require the extension of the slope to be parallel to the slope or to maintain the slope).
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5. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one second driven roller (67) that is not driven by a driving source is located downstream in the conveying direction of a position of the outer inside wall facing the second driving roller (67 is downstream of 65).
6. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first conveyor (40) is provided downstream of the curved portion in the conveying direction (~Y).
7. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a third conveyor (41) provided downstream of the first conveyor (40) in the conveyance path, wherein a skew of a recording medium is corrected by driving the first conveyor (40) and the second driving roller (65) to convey the recording medium in the conveying direction, and by stopping the third conveyor (41) or driving the third conveyor to convey the recording medium in a direction opposite to the conveying direction (the apparatus is capable of controlling the structure in the manner claimed to correct skew).
8. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a second conveyance path for conveying the recording medium, on which recording on a front side thereof is completed by the recording unit, so as to perform recording on a back side of the recording medium, wherein the second conveyance path is connected to an upstream end of the curved portion (the paper may be removed from the printer, inverted and reinserted into the tray, where it travels along a path for back side recording, which is connected to an upstream end of the curved portion at 60, the claim language does not require the second conveyance path to be in a direction different from the first).
9. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a distance between an outer circumference surface of the second driving roller (65) and the outer inside wall (53a) at a position facing the second driving roller is less than a distance between the inner inside wall (53b) and the outer inside wall (53a, the roller 65 protrudes into the space between the outer and inner walls).
10. A conveying apparatus conveying a recording medium, the conveying apparatus comprising:
a conveyance path (75) including a curved portion formed by an inner inside wall (53b) having a convex shape in a first direction and an outer inside wall (53a) spaced apart from the inner inside wall in the first direction and having a concave shape, the conveyance path being configured to guide the recording medium;
a first conveyor (40) provided in the conveyance path and including a first driving roller (40a) configured to be driven by a driving source and a driven roller (40b) configured to nip the recording medium together with the first driving roller, and
a second conveyor including a second driving roller (65) located at the inner inside wall of the curved portion upstream of the first driving roller in a conveying direction and configured to be driven by a driving source,
wherein the second driving roller faces the outer inside wall in the first direction with a gap between them (fig. 3, the roller 65 has a gap between itself and the outer inside wall 53a).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Julian D Huffman whose telephone number is (571)272-2147. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 9am-6pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Group Director Andrea Wellington can be reached at (571)272-4483. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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JULIAN D. HUFFMAN
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2859
/JULIAN D HUFFMAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859