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 .
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.
Claims 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 19, & 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Matsumoto (US 9162483) in view of Mogi (US6461065).
RE 1, Matsumoto discloses A printing device (1) comprising: a roll holder (51) to support a medium roll (R2), which is a recording medium wound into a roll, so that the medium roll can rotate in a front-rear direction (col 3 ln 60-65); a support table (14) that is higher than the roll holder and supports the recording medium drawn from the medium roll; a print head (13) that is higher than the support table so as to oppose the support table (col 4 ln 21-27); a conveyor (15, 16) to transfer the recording medium in the front-rear direction on the support table and forward on the support table to draw the recording medium from the medium roll (col 4 ln 28-33); and a receiver (60) that is below and spaced away from a transfer path (40) of the recording medium extending from the medium roll to the support table along which the recording medium is drawn from the medium roll and transferred; wherein the receiver is capable of receiving the recording medium, and includes a receiving portion that slopes downward and extends forward or rearward (col 5 ln 5-55, Fig 3).
Matsumoto fails to disclose transferring the recording medium rearward on the support table to pull back the recording medium toward the roll holder, where the receiver is capable of receiving the recording medium pulled back toward the roll holder.
However, Mogi teaches a printer (Fig 1) with a path size switching plate (10) between a recording paper roll (2) and an aligning device (15) for aligning a recording paper with a paper transport path. The path size switching plate limits the paper transport path in a direction of thickness of the recording paper while the recording paper is being conveyed in a paper supply direction, preventing the recording paper from getting jammed. While the recording paper stops and the aligning device pushes opposite side edges of the recording paper for alignment, the path size switching plate widen the paper transport path in the direction of thickness of the recording paper, so as to make a loop for absorbing torsion applied to the recording paper between the recording paper roll and the aligning device as a result of alignment (abstract). The paper (2) is from a roll (3) fed from a magazine (4) and transported in a paper supply direction through transfer (55) and pinch (56) rollers to the platen roller (59) supporting the thermal head (58) and through the cutter (72) and discharged (col 6 ln 62-col 7 ln 65, col 8 ln 8-31). In the rewinding direction the paper (2) Therefore, torsion of the thermosensitive color recording paper 2 that can be generated during the paper transport in the rewinding direction is absorbed in the vertical transport path section, so the thermosensitive color recording paper 2 is prevented from being bent or wrinkled (col 11 ln 11-16).
Given the teachings of Mogi, 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 conveyor of Matsumoto with transferring the recording medium rearward on the support table to pull back the recording medium toward the roll holder, where the receiver is capable of receiving the recording medium pulled back toward the roll holder.
Doing so would provide a loop in the paper that absorbs torsion between the supply roll and the receiver transporting reward toward the roll holder thereby protecting the paper from damage.
Re 2 Matsumoto as modified by Mogi teaches, further comprising: a first guide (31) and a second guide (32) opposing each other to define a guide passage therebetween through which the recording medium is inserted (Fig 1), wherein a lower end portion of the first guide and a lower end portion of the second guide define a medium insertion slot through which the recording medium is insertable into the guide passage; the medium insertion slot is located rearward relative to the roll holder and the support table and upward relative to the receiving portion; and the receiving portion opposes the medium insertion slot and slopes downward while extending forward (Matsumoto Fig 3).
Re 4 Matsumoto as modified by Mogi teaches, wherein the receiving portion (60) slopes downward and extends forward; a front end of the receiving portion is located lower than the roll holder; and a gap is provided between the front end of the receiving portion and the roll holder such that the recording medium can pass through the gap with the medium roll mounted on the roll holder (Matsumoto Fig 3).
RE 5 Matsumoto as modified by Mogi teaches, wherein the receiving portion (60) includes a group of rollers (33) including a plurality of rollers each capable of rotating in the front-rear direction (Matsumoto Fig 4).
RE 7 Matsumoto as modified by Mogi teaches, wherein the group of rollers (33) include a roller row including a plurality of rollers aligned in the front-rear direction (Fig 3); the receiving portion includes a support that rotatably supports the rollers of the roller row; a medium-supporting surface of each roller protrudes upward relative to an upper surface of the support; and a center of rotation of each roller is located downward relative to the upper surface of the support (Matsumoto col 6 ln 56-67).
RE 8 Matsumoto as modified by Mogi teaches, wherein the receiver includes an extended receiving portion that is continuous with and extends forward from a front end of the receiving portion (Matsumoto Fig 3).
Re 10 Matsumoto as modified by Mogi teaches, further comprising: a first guide (31) that is arranged rearward relative to the roll holder and rearward and downward relative to the support table and extends in an up-down direction to guide the recording medium onto the support table; and a second guide (32) that is arranged rearward of the first guide so as to oppose the first guide and extends in the up-down direction; wherein the first guide and the second guide define a guide passage (40) therebetween through which the recording medium is inserted, the second guide extending to a position downward relative to the first guide (Matsumoto Fig 3).
Re 11 Matsumoto as modified by Mogi teaches, further comprising a moving mechanism (15) to move the second guide to a first position and to a second position, which is rearward relative to the first position (Mogi col 9 ln 45-63, Fig 7-9). This prevents the paper from being bent or wrinkled when transported in the rewinding direction.
RE 19 Matsumoto as modified by Mogi teaches, further comprising: a housing (10) that houses at least a portion of the roll holder (51) and supports the support table (14), the print head (13), the first guide (31) and the second guide (32); wherein the first guide and the second guide are higher than the roll holder; and a portion of a front surface of the housing that is higher than the roll holder is provided with an opening that is large enough to allow a user to pass their hand through (Matsumoto Fig 3).
RE 20 Matsumoto as modified by Mogi teaches, further comprising: a cutting head (18) including a cutter capable of cutting the recording medium and higher than the support table so as to oppose the support table; a head mover to move the cutting head in a left-right direction; and a controller (11) configured or programmed to control the print head, the conveyor, and the head mover; wherein the controller is configured or programmed to control the head mover and the conveyor according to cutting data so that the cutting head is movable in the left-right direction and the recording medium is transferrable forward or rearward on the support table (Matsumoto col 4 ln 5-37).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 6, 9, 12-18 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: none of the cited prior art disclose, teach, suggest at least the receiving portion extends to a position rearward relative to the medium insertion slot, as per claim 3; the group of rollers include three or more roller rows that are arranged in alignment in a left-right direction, as per claim 6; the extended receiving portion includes a plurality of rollers, as per claim 9; the moving mechanism is interlocked with the elevator to move the second guide to the first position when the pinch roller is moved to the release position by the elevator and move the second guide to the second position when the pinch roller is moved to the pinch position by the elevator, as per claim 12; the moving mechanism including a first and second adhering portion, as per claim 14; the closure plate is flexible, and closes a gap between the second guide and the other structure when the second guide is in the first position, the second position, and an intermediate position between the first position and the second position, as per claim 16; the second guide includes a first sloping portion that is located at a lower end portion thereof and sloping downward while extending rearward, as per claim 17.
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 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