DETAILED ACTION
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, 2 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Totsuka (US Pub No. 2013/0049292 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Totsuka discloses
an accommodation unit (21, 29) configured to accommodate a recording material and a connection unit (29a, 30) configured to be connected to a lower portion of the accommodation unit ([0026]), the accommodation unit including: a housing (29); and an accommodation portion (21) configured to accommodate the recording material and to be movable between a first position (Fig. 1A) where the accommodation portion is pulled out from the housing and a second position (Fig. 1B) where the accommodation portion is inserted into the housing, the connection unit including a guide portion (293c) configured to guide a movement of the accommodation portion,
wherein in a process of the accommodation portion moving in a first direction where the accommodation portion moves from the first position to the second position, the accommodation portion comes into contact with the guide portion and is guided upward ([0037]-[0038]).
Regarding Claim 2, Totsuka discloses
the housing includes a first frame extending in the first direction (i.e. the vertical wall shown in Fig. 3), a second frame extending in the first direction (i.e. see the opposing wall in Fig. 1B), and
wherein the accommodation portion is located between the first frame and the second frame in a second direction orthogonal to each of the first direction and a vertical direction (i.e. 21 is between the walls of 29 in the sheet widthwise direction, see Fig. 1B).
Regarding Claim 10, Totsuka discloses
the connection unit has an exterior portion (29a, wherein the claim does not require what it is ‘exterior’ to) that is a downstream end portion of the connection unit in the first direction (i.e. particularly 291a in Fig. 3) and an upper end portion of the connection unit (i.e. 291a is an upper surface), and
wherein the exterior portion includes the guide portion (i.e. 29a includes 293c).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-9 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: None of the prior art of record shows left and right support portions that are part of discrete first and second frames, respectively, that come into contact with an accommodation portion, wherein it is noted that these support portions are not part of a connection unit that is connectable to an accommodation unit (Claims 3-9 and 11).
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 PRASAD GOKHALE whose telephone number is (571)270-3543. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9am - 5:30pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
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.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/PRASAD V GOKHALE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3653 January 28, 2026
Prosecution Insights