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) 1-2 and 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsuoka et al. (JP 2023026361) in view of Minamitani (JP 2004317463), and further in view of Dogakiuchi (JP 2014183173).
Regarding claims 1 and 2, Matsuoka teaches a magnetic line sensor (10) that is in a multi-channel system and detects magnetic information of a transported sheet, the magnetic line sensor comprising: multiple magnetic sensor elements (14) each provided for a corresponding channel and arranged in a main scanning direction, and a substrate in which electronic components are mounted,
Matsuoka, however, is silent regarding multiple chip capacitors each electrically connected to a corresponding one of the multiple magnetic sensor elements.
Minamitani teaches a magnetic line sensor comprises: multiple chip capacitors (32) each electrically connected to a corresponding one of the multiple magnetic sensor elements (Fig. 9).b
It would have been obvious to one having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate multiple chip capacitors as taught by Minamitani into Matsuoka’s magnetic line sensor in order to smooth the output of each of the multiple magnetic sensor elements.
Matsuoka, as modified by Minamitani, does not specifically teach the multiple chip capacitors are ceramic capacitors, each having a pair of external electrodes, a substrate in which the chip ceramic capacitor is mounted, and at least one chip ceramic capacitors having its pair of external electrode aligned in a direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction, i.e. a longitudinal direction of the substrate [claim 2].
Dogakiuchi teaches a substrate comprises: multiple chip ceramic capacitors (10A1, 10A2), each having a pair of external electrodes, the multiple chip ceramic capacitors are mounted on the substrate, and at least one chip ceramic capacitors having its pair of external electrodes aligned in a direction orthogonal to a longitudinal direction of the substrate.
It would have been obvious to one having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute a substrate having a plurality of ceramic capacitors as taught by Dogakiuchi within said magnetic line sensor in order to minimize the vibration in the circuit board.
Regarding claim 4, Matsuoka, as modified by Minamitani and Dogakiuchi, teaches the invention as claimed in claim 1 above. Matsuoka further teaches a frame (11) to which the substrate is attached with the fixing member (22), wherein the substate has a through hole in which the fixing member is inserted (Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 5, Matsuoka, as modified by Minamitani and Dogakiuchi, teaches the invention as claimed in claim 1 above. Dogakiuchi further teaches all the chip ceramic.
capacitors have their pair of electrodes aligned in a direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction, i.e. a longitudinal direction of the substrate (Fig. 9).
Claim(s) 6-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsuoka in view of Minamitani and Dogakiuchi, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Otsuka (US Pub. No. 2006/0157390).
Regarding claim 6, Matsuoka, in view of Minamitani and Dogakiuchi, teaches a sheet recognition unit comprises the magnetic line sensor of claim 1 above. However, the combination of Matsuoka, in view of Minamitani and Dogakiuchi, does not teach or suggest a thickness detection sensor adjacent to the magnetic line sensor. Otsuka teaches a sheet recognition unit comprises a thickness detection sensor adjacent to the magnetic line sensor (para.37). It would have been obvious to one having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate a thickness detection sensor within said sheet recognition unit in order to facilitate the identification of the transported sheet.
Regarding claim 7, Matsuoka, in view of Minamitani and Dogakiuchi, teaches the invention as claimed in claim 6 above. Matsuoka further teaches the sheet recognition unit is housed within a sheet handling device (100).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 3, applicant has sufficiently defined and claimed a magnetic line sensor, whereby the prior art does not teach or suggest multiple second amplifier circuits each electrically connected to a corresponding one of the multiple first amplifier circuits via corresponding one or more of the multiple chip ceramic capacitors and each being configured to amplify an output signal of the corresponding first amplifier circuit, in combination with all other limitations set forth in the claim.
Conclusion
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MINH Q. PHAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2852
/MINH Q PHAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
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