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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-5 and 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yatsunami (US 2017/0274677) and further in view of Koyanagi (US 2022/0086294).
With regard to claim 1, Yatsunami discloses a printing apparatus (12) [Para. 0054] capable of performing printing on a plurality of kinds of sheets (P) [plurality of type of mediums; Para. 0020, 0059], comprising:
a print unit (25) configured to perform printing on a sheet [Para. 0060];
a feed unit (33) [pair of transporting rollers; Para. 0066] configured to feed a sheet (P) toward the print unit [Fig. 4]; and
a control unit (600) [control device; Para. 116] configured to, in a case of successively performing printing on a plurality of sheets by the print unit, control the feed unit to perform overlapped feeding in which a succeeding sheet is fed such that a trailing end portion of a preceding sheet and a leading end portion of the succeeding sheet overlap [Para. 0077],
Yatsunami does not disclose wherein, in a case of executing the overlapped feeding, the control unit makes a predetermined notification based on a comparison result of a length of the succeeding sheet with a threshold value corresponding to a sheet kind of the succeeding sheet.
However, Koyanagi teaches a controller making a predetermined notification (set the discharge speed) based on a comparison result of a length of the succeeding sheet with a threshold value corresponding to a sheet kind of the succeeding sheet [controller determines the length of the medium is equal to or greater than the threshold value based detection result of the medium; Para. 0019].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to make a predetermined notification in a case of executing the overlapped feeding in order to increase or decrease the ejection speed.
With regard to claim 3, Yatsunami’s modified apparatus discloses all the limitations of claim 1, and Yatsunami also discloses wherein the control unit starts a printing operation by driving the print unit and the feed unit based on a job [Para. 0077], and the job includes image data indicating an image to be printed on a sheet and setting information indicating a sheet kind of the sheet [Para. 0077], and
the control unit compares the length of the succeeding sheet with the threshold value corresponding to the setting information [Para. 0077].
With regard to claim 4, Yatsunami’s modified apparatus discloses all the limitations of claim 3, and Yatsunami also discloses further comprising a cassette (155) [Para. 0059] in which the plurality of kinds of sheets can be set, wherein the print unit is located above the cassette [Fig. 4], and a sheet feed path from the cassette to the print unit is formed in a curved shape [Fig. 4].
With regard to claim 5, Yatsunami’s modified apparatus discloses all the limitations of claim 4, further comprising a detection sensor (634, 635, 636) [Para. 0118] arranged in the sheet feed path and configured to be capable of detecting presence/absence of a sheet [Para. 0119] but does not disclose, wherein the control unit acquires the length of the succeeding sheet based on a detection result of the detection sensor and Koyanagi also discloses a control unit acquiring the length of a sheet based on a detection result of the detection sensor [Para. 0070].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the control unit of Yatsunami modified to acquire the length of a sheet based on a detection result of the detection sensor as taught by Koyanagi in order to change the transport speed of media being read in accordance with their lengths.
With regard to claim 9, Yatsunami’s modified apparatus discloses all the limitations of claim 4, and Yatsunami also discloses wherein the feed unit includes a feed roller (28) configured to feed a sheet from the cassette to the sheet feed path [Para. 0060], and a conveyance roller (69) configured to convey the sheet from the sheet feed path to the print unit [Fig. 4].
With regard to claim 10, Yatsunami’s modified apparatus discloses all the limitations of claim 9, and Yatsunami also discloses wherein a sheet holding force of the conveyance roller is larger than a sheet holding force of the feed roller [intermediate roller 30 (part of the conveyance roller) applies a transporting force toward the downstream side of the medium where a portion of the contact position bends downward; Para. 0087].
Claim(s) 2 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yatsunami (US 2017/0274677) in view of Koyanagi (US 2022/086294) as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Maeda (JP 2015009480).
With regard to claim 2, Yatsunami’s modified apparatus discloses all the limitations of claim 1 wherein the sheet kind includes a plurality of sheet sizes and/or a plurality of sheet types [Para. 0020], but does not disclose the threshold value is set for each sheet kind.
However, Maeda teaches a threshold value (Vth) is changed according to the type of paper used for printing (plain glossy paper, etc.) [Para. 0031].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention configure the apparatus of Yatsunami to set a threshold value for each sheet kind in order to determine the comparison result of the output level at a particular position.
With regard to claim 12, Yatsunami’s modified printing apparatus discloses all the limitations of claim 1 but does not disclose a computer-readable storage medium storing a program, the program configured to cause a computer to function as each unit of the printing apparatus according to claim 1.
However, Maeda teaches a computer readable storage medium (203) [program memory; Para. 0026] storing a program [a program for controlling the printing apparatus (100); Para. 0026], the program configured to cause a computer to function as each unit of the printing apparatus [Para. 0047].
It would have been obvious to one obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure Yatsunami with a computer readable storage medium as taught by Maeda in order to store data in a format easily readable by a computer.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-8 and 11 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.
Claims 6-8 are objected to because the prior art does not teach or make obvious wherein if the length of the succeeding sheet is shorter than the threshold value, the control unit interrupts the printing operation and, thereafter, in a case of resuming the printing operation, determines whether to perform the overlapped feeding.
Claim 11 is objected to because the prior art does not teach or make obvious wherein if the length of the succeeding sheet is shorter than the threshold value, the control unit makes the notification after discharging the preceding sheet and the succeeding sheet.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TRACEY M MCMILLION whose telephone number is (571)270-5193. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 6AM-2:30PM EST.
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/TRACEY M MCMILLION/Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/RICARDO I MAGALLANES/Supervisor Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2853