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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the Applicant’s communication filed on 7 February 2025. In virtue of this communication, claims 1-11 are currently presented in the instant application.
Information Disclosure Statement(s)
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 2/7/2025 and 8/14/2025 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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) 1-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fujii et al. (Publication No.: US 2019/0107416 A1, herein known as D1) in view of Majette et al. (Patent No.: US 4,786,803 A, herein known as D2).
With respect to claim 1, D1 discloses a printer comprising:
an encoder plate that rotates in conjunction with transport of a recording medium and on which slits are radially formed (optical rotary encoder 36; [0092]; Fig. 6; recording medium 10; [0095], slits are radially formed on the rotating slit plate 37 of the encoder; [0094]-[0095]);
a photo-interrupter that emits light to the encoder plate and receives the light to output a rotation detection signal (detection unit 38; [0095]);
D1 does not disclose a printer comprising a fixed slit plate that narrows the light emitted from the photo-interrupter; and a positioning portion that positions the photo-interrupter with respect to the fixed slit plate and includes a reference holding portion and a deformable holding portion provided at a position facing the reference holding portion, in which the deformable holding portion is deformed to hold the photo-interrupter.
D2 teaches an encoder setup that uses a second fixed slit 12a of aperture plate 12 to “control transmission from the source of light 11 to the detector 10 in such a way that the narrow opaque lines can block transmission between the much wider light emitting and light detecting areas of the source 11 and detector 10 to provide precise resolution of the scale divisions” and further teaches an emitter holder 13 and detector holder 14 to position the emitter 11, detector 10, and the aperture plate 12 (Figs. 4, 10; Column 5 lines 4-21). D2 further teaches that the detector holder 14 is deformed as seen in Fig. 4 and described in Column 5 lines 22-37). Therefore, the positioning portion can be considered the reference portion (housing that includes sides 14b and cavity 16 of Fig. 4), and the deformable holding portions (arms 14d).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the printer of D1 by utilizing a secondary fixed aperture plate and structure of the encoder as taught by D2 for precise resolution of the scale divisions.
With respect to claim 2, the combination of D1 and D2 further discloses a printer wherein the photo-interrupter is interposed and held between the reference holding portion and the deformable holding portion (see D2 Fig. 4).
With respect to claim 3, the combination of D1 and D2 further discloses a printer wherein the deformable holding portion is a protrusion portion that protrudes in a circumferential direction of the encoder plate (D2 Fig. 4 for protrusion structure of deformed holder 14).
With respect to claim 4, the combination of D1 and D2 further discloses a printer wherein a protrusion amount of the deformable holding portion is within an outer shape tolerance range of the photo-interrupter (see physical structure of D2 Fig. 4 and 8a/8b, for limits of the protrusion and photo-interrupter).
With respect to claim 5, the combination of D1 and D2 further disclose a printer wherein the positioning portion has an opening portion in which at least a part of the photo-interrupter is accommodated, and the reference holding portion and the deformable holding portion are positioned inside the opening portion (D2 Fig. 4, the opening portion can be considered the slot formed in the detector holder 13 which has pins 13a that accommodates the photo-interrupter “A pair of slots 14a similar to those slots 12b in opposite ends of the aperture plate 12, open through the bottom face 14c of the sides 14b of the emitter holder 14 at its center. These slots fit over the same pair of pins 13a on the detector holder 13 and accurately position the emitter holder 14 with respect to the detector holder 13.”).
With respect to claim 6, the combination of D1 and D2 further discloses a printer wherein the deformable holding portion is deformed by being pressed by the photo-interrupter in a case in which the photo-interrupter is accommodated in the opening portion (the emitter and detector are both inserted by interference fitting in their cavities (D2 Column 2 lines 30-39 for interference fitting, and, non-limiting, Column 23-45 for the deformation from insertion).
With respect to claim 7, the combination of D1 and D2 further discloses a printer further comprising: a fixing member that fixes the photo-interrupter positioned by the positioning portion (D2 pins 13a that accommodates the photo-interrupter “A pair of slots 14a similar to those slots 12b in opposite ends of the aperture plate 12, open through the bottom face 14c of the sides 14b of the emitter holder 14 at its center. These slots fit over the same pair of pins 13a on the detector holder 13 and accurately position the emitter holder 14 with respect to the detector holder 13.”).
With respect to claim 8, the combination of D1 and D2 further discloses a printer further comprising: a case member that holds the encoder plate and the positioning portion, wherein the fixing member is a fastening member that is fastened to the case member (D2 the detector holder 13 as seen in Fig. 4 that contains the pins 13a).
With respect to claim 9, the combination of D1 and D2 further discloses a printer further comprising: a transport roller that transports the recording medium, wherein the encoder plate is provided on the same axis as the transport roller (D1 spread rollers 40; Fig. 6; [0075]).
With respect to claim 10, the combination of D1 and D2 further discloses a printer wherein the recording medium is an instant film, and the printer further comprises an exposure head that exposes the instant film to record an image (D1 instant film 10; light exposure head 25; [0079]).
With respect to claim 11, the combination of D1 and D2 further discloses a digital camera with a printer, comprising:
the printer according to claim 1 (see above); and
an imaging element that images a subject,
wherein the recording medium is an instant film, and
the printer includes an exposure head that exposes an image captured by the imaging element onto the instant film (D1 Fig. 19 which shows a printer-equipped camera as according to claim 1, which would be obvious has imaging elements that image a subject, and see claim 10 for the film and exposure head).
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Silverbrook et al. (Publication No.: US 2008/0248833 a1)
Silverbrook (Publication No.: US 2005/0088527 A1)
Silverbrook (Patent No.: US 6,788,336 B1)
Silverbrook et al. (Publication No.: US 2004/0041018 A1)
Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DIANA HANCOCK whose telephone number is (571)270-7547. The examiner can normally be reached on 10AM-6PM EST M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Stephanie Bloss can be reached on (571) 272-3555. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/D.H/Examiner, Art Unit 2852
6/13/2026
/STEPHANIE E BLOSS/Supervisory Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
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