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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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 & 3-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shima et al. (# US 2022/0204292).
Shima et al. discloses:
1. A conveyance section (element: 100, figure: 1) cleaning device comprising:
a recording medium conveyance unit that sucks and conveys a recording medium (figure: 1-2; [0029]-[0037]);
a cleaning section that cleans the recording medium conveyance unit ([0101]-[0114]); and
a controller that controls the cleaning section (see figure: 2); wherein
the controller causes the cleaning section to clean the recording medium conveyance unit before printing starts ([0088]-[0127]).
Shima et al. explicitly did not discloses:
If the recording medium is changed to one with a different size, the controller causes the cleaning section to clean the recording medium.
It would have been obvious matter of design choice to the recording medium is changed to one with a different size, the controller causes the cleaning section to clean the recording medium, since applicant has not disclosed any criticality to solves any stated problem or is for any particular purpose and it appears that the invention would perform equally well with any size of recording medium.
3. The conveyance section cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the controller does not cause the cleaning section to clean the recording medium conveyance unit if the size of the recording medium is not changed ([0099]-[0127]).
4. The conveyance section cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the controller does not cause the cleaning section to clean the recording medium conveyance unit if the number of printed sheets exceeds a preset number of printed sheets during printing ([0099]-[0127]).
5. The conveyance section cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium conveyance unit includes a conveyance drum that conveys the recording medium (see figure: 2).
6. The conveyance section cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium conveyance unit includes a conveyance roller that conveys the recording medium (see figure: 2).
7. The conveyance section cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium conveyance unit includes a conveyance belt that conveys the recording medium (figure: 2).
8. The conveyance section cleaning device according to claim 1, further comprising:
a sheet feed section that supplies the recording medium to the recording medium conveyance unit (element: A2; figure: 2);
a sheet ejection section that ejects the recording medium on which printing has been performed (element: 104, figure: 2);
a front/back reversing unit that reverses the recording medium; and
a sheet ejection/reversal switching unit that directs the recording medium either toward the sheet ejection section or toward the front/back reversing unit (figure: 2),
wherein the front/back reversing unit for double-sided printing is provided between the sheet ejection/reversal switching unit and the sheet feed section (figure: 2).
9. The conveyance section cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning section includes a cleaning roller that cleans the recording medium conveyance unit, the cleaning roller is arranged in sections at positions corresponding to end portions on both sides in a width direction of the recording medium and a trailing end portion in a conveyance direction of the recording medium, and at the position corresponding to the trailing end portion, only a cleaning portion of the cleaning roller contacts the recording medium conveyance unit ([0091]-[0127]).
10. The conveyance section cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning section includes an adhesive roller that cleans the recording medium conveyance unit ([0064]-[0091]; [0108]-[0111]).
11. The conveyance section cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning section includes an air ejecting unit that ejects air for cleaning the recording medium conveyance unit ([0064]-[0111]).
12. The conveyance section cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning section includes a brush that cleans the recording medium conveyance unit ([0064]-[0128]).
13. The conveyance section cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning section includes a wet cleaning unit that cleans the recording medium conveyance unit (figure: 1-2).
14. The conveyance section cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning section is provided upstream, just in front of the front/back reversing unit that reverses the recording medium (see figure: 1-2).
15. An image forming apparatus (see figure: 1-2) comprising:
the conveyance section cleaning device according to claim 1; and
an image forming section that forms an image on the recording medium supplied from the recording medium conveyance unit (see figure: 1-2).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 is 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.
2. The conveyance section cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein
if the recording medium is changed to a larger size, the controller causes the cleaning section to clean the recording medium conveyance unit before printing starts, and if the recording medium is changed to a smaller size, the controller does not cause the cleaning section to clean the recording medium conveyance unit.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
(1) Mori (# US 20180297800 A1) discloses a sheet feed device includes a stacking tray on which sheets P are stacked, and feed rollers convey the sheets P from the stacking tray. The sheet feed device also includes a pressing lever configured to press back, when there is a sheet picked up from the stacking tray and is in a state of being nipped between feed rollers, a leading end of the sheet P toward the stacking tray, and a roller separating mechanism configured to separate the sheet feed rollers performing the nipping from each other, when the pressing member performs the operation of pressing back the sheet (see Abstract).
(2) Uehara (# US 20160325954 A1) discloses A sheet conveyance device (1) includes a feed tray (20), a feeding unit (50), a stopper (30), a first abutted portion (41), and an impact reducing mechanism (10). Sheets are loaded on the feed tray (20). The feeding unit (50) feeds the sheets. The stopper (30) is rotatably supported on the feeding unit (50) and rotates when pressed by the sheets inserted into the feed tray (20). The stopper (30) comes into contact with the first abutted portion (41) in association with the rotation of the stopper (30). The impact reducing mechanism (10) reduces impact applied to the first abutted portion (41) by the stopper (30) (see Abstract).
(3) Fukumoto et al. (# US 20160122144 A1) discloses a paper feeding apparatus includes: a sheet loading unit for loading a bundle of sheets; a separation unit that separates a topmost sheet of the bundle of sheets loaded on the sheet loading unit, from the bundle of sheets; a conveyance unit that conveys the separated topmost sheet; an end fence that is movable in a sheet conveyance direction, abuts trailing ends in the sheet conveyance direction, and positions the bundle of sheets in the sheet conveyance direction; and a pressing unit that is provided in such a manner as to protrude from the end fence, and is able to press the trailing ends in the sheet conveyance direction of at least an upper part of the bundle of sheets, wherein the pressing unit has different pressing forces at an upper and a lower portion thereof, and has the lower pressing force stronger than the upper pressing force (see Abstract).
(4) Suzuki (# US 20100148419 A1) discloses a sheet supply apparatus including: a suction conveyance mechanism which suctions a topmost sheet of a plurality of sheets stacked and conveys the suctioned sheet to a sheet conveyance path; an outlet elevation mechanism which moves an air outlet to and from a first position at which the air outlet faces the side of the stacked sheets and a second position at which the air outlet faces a side of the sheet suctioned onto the suction surface; a suction detection sensor; a sheet supply detection sensor; and a control section which moves the air outlet to the first position or to the second position by controlling the outlet elevation mechanism based on detections by the sensors (see Abstract).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MANISH S SHAH whose telephone number is (571)272-2152. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00am-4:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ricardo Magallanes can be reached at 571-272-5960. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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MANISH S. SHAH
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2853
/Manish S Shah/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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