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) 8, 10, 12-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP 2017-218272 (“JP ‘272”).
Regarding claim 8, JP ‘272 disclosed a sheet feeding device for feeding a sheet, the sheet feeding device comprising:
a sheet stacking member (182) on which the sheet is stacked and provided with a guided portion (193a, 193b);
a feeding member (187) provided above the sheet stacking member and configured to feed the sheet stacked on the sheet stacking member;
a lifting member (including 412) configured to lift up and down the sheet stacking member;
a frame unit (including 181, 189a, 189b) provided with an opening portion (198) and a groove (190) in which the guided portion is guided and configured to accommodate the sheet, the frame unit being dismountably mounted to a mounting portion (180a) of the sheet feeding device; and
a restricting member (199) attached to the opening portion and configured to restrict movement in a lifting down direction of the sheet stacking member by contacting and supporting the sheet stacking member in a state in which the sheet stacking member is lifted up to a predetermined position (see Figure 3), wherein the predetermined position is a position at which the guided portion is closer to an upper end of the groove than a lower end of the groove in a vertical direction (Figures 3 and 5).
Regarding claim 10, JP ‘272 disclosed the frame unit includes a first frame (189a) having the opening portion and a second frame (189b) having the groove.
Regarding claim 12, JP ‘272 disclosed the restricting member is provided with a contacting portion (see threaded part in Figure 5) which contacts the opening portion when the restricting member is attached to the opening portion, and wherein the restricting member is supported by the opening portion via the contacting portion.
Regarding claim 13, JP ‘272 disclosed an upper end of the restricting member attached to the opening portion contacts the sheet stacking member (Figure 5), and wherein the predetermined position is a height adding (1) a height of the opening portion to (2) a height from the upper end of the restricting member to the contacting portion (see Figures 3 and 5).
Regarding claim 14, JP ‘272 disclosed the predetermined position is a height less than or equal to a height of a feedable position where the feeding member is capable of feeding the sheet stacked on the sheet stacking member (Figure 3).
Regarding claim 15, JP ‘272 disclosed the restricting member restricts movement in the lifting down direction of the sheet stacking member by contacting and supporting a bottom surface of the sheet stacking member in a state in which the sheet stacking member is lifted up to the predetermined position (see Figure 5).
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) 9 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP ‘272 in view of Ogasahara US 10,139,773 (Ogasahara”).
JP ‘272 disclosed the limitations of claim 8 as listed above and taught drawing the frame unit to and from the mounting portion. It is unclear whether JP ‘272 teaches a guide rail. Ogasahara teaches a guide rail for attaching and detaching the frame unit to and from the mounting portion (see Figures 1 and 3). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the teaches of Ogasahara and JP ‘272 to use a guide rail for reliable and sturdy drawing in and out or attaching and detaching of the frame unit to and from the mounting portion. Moreover, it would be entirely obvious to situate the predetermined position at a position at which the guided portion is higher than the guide rail, wherein the predetermined position is a height adding (1) a height of the guide rail attached to the supporting frame to (2) a height from the upper end of the restricting member to the guide rail. To do so would be to use guide rails to allow uninterrupted linear sliding as is well known in the art.
Conclusion
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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/HOWARD J SANDERS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3653