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 § 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) 1-3, 6, 8-10, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Furusawa US 9,725,260 (“Furusawa”).
Regarding claim 1, Furusawa disclosed an opening/closing member holding device comprising:
a body part (16);
a cover (27) configured to be set to an attached state of covering at least a part of the body part when a fastening part (27a) is fastened to the body part, the cover being detachable from the body part when the fastening part is detached;
an opening/closing member (22) configured to be switchable to a closed state (Figure 13) of covering the fastening part fastened to the body part, and a first open state (Figure 10) of exposing the fastening part fastened to the body part; and
a holding member (19) configured to be attachable to and detachable from the body part, wherein the holding member is configured to hold the opening/closing member when attached in the state where the opening/closing member is in a second open state (Figure 12) where the opening/closing member is further opened than in the first open state.
Regarding claim 2, Furusawa disclosed the holding member is a wire-shaped member including a first engaging portion (at 27e) configured to be engageable with the opening/closing member on one end side, and a second engaging portion (at 16a) configured to be engageable with the body part on the other end side.
Regarding claim 3, Furusawa disclosed the holding member restricts a movement of the cover in a detaching direction of the cover when the cover is in the attached state (Figures 10 and 12).
Regarding claim 6, Furusawa disclosed both ends of the wire-shaped member making up the holding member are bent (see at least Figure 10).
Regarding claim 8, Furusawa disclosed a medium conveyance device comprising: a device body including a medium conveyance path configured to convey a medium (Figure 1), and the opening/closing member holding device according to claim 2, wherein the body part is provided at a side surface of the device body and configured to open and close such that the body part forms a part of the medium conveyance path when the body part closes and forms a part of the medium conveyance path when the body part opens (see at least Figure 10), and the opening/closing member is a support tray configured to support the medium that is supplied (Figure 11A).
Regarding claim 9, Furusawa disclosed a medium conveyance device comprising: a device body including a medium conveyance path configured to convey a medium (Figure 1), and the opening/closing member holding device according to claim 3, wherein the body part is provided at a side surface of the device body and configured to open and close, the opening/closing member is a support tray configured to support the medium that is supplied, the device body includes a medium storage unit configured to store the medium, when a side surface where the medium storage unit is provided in the device body is set to a front surface of the device body, the body part is provided at a right side surface or a left side surface of the device body, and the holding member restricts a movement of the cover in the detaching direction of the cover on a device front surface side of the cover with the body part in the closed state (see at least Figures 1 and 10-13).
Regarding claim 10, Furusawa disclosed a supplying roller (2) configured to supply the medium from the support tray; and a rotation shaft (4) of the supplying roller, wherein the second engaging portion is engageable with the rotation shaft of the supplying roller (seen in at least Figure 11B).
Regarding claim 13, Furusawa disclosed a recording device comprising: a recording unit configured to perform recording on a medium (Figure 1); and the medium conveyance device according to claim 8 as mentioned above.
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) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Furusawa. Furusawa disclosed the subject matter of claim 8 as listed above but did not specify using a plurality of medium detection units. Use of medium detection units within a medium conveyance device is entirely well known and obvious to use in order to ensure proper timing and feeding of media. Moreover, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use a plurality of medium detection units configured to detect the medium which would be provided in the conveyance path of the medium. To do so would ensure the plurality of the medium detection units are accessible a certain amount of disassembly would be performed including when the cover is detached from the body part.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 5, 7, 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Aoyama US 9,037,073 anticipates at least the independent claim (see Figures 1-7).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HOWARD J SANDERS whose telephone number is (571)270-3096. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael McCullough can be reached at (571) 272-7805. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HOWARD J SANDERS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3653