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.
Claims 1, 2, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsuchida US 2004/0178563 A1 (hereinafter “Tsuchida”) in view of Yamazaki US 5,568,166 (hereinafter “Yamazaki”).
Regarding claims 1 and 9 (image forming apparatus-FIG. 1), Tsuchida a sheet feeding device comprising:
a cover (4) including:
a stacking portion (4a, refer to FIG. 7) on which multiple sheets are stacked; and
a pivot about which the cover is pivotable to open and close a body of the sheet feeding device;
a feed roller (2) to:
abut against the upper face of the uppermost sheet fed from the pickup roller: and
feed the uppermost sheet in the sheet feeding direction;
a separator (separating pad 3) facing the feed roller to separate the uppermost sheet from the multiple sheets;
a guide (refer to annotated figure below) to guide the uppermost sheet fed from the feed roller; and
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a receiving base (separating pad holder 3A) holding the separator,
wherein the swing pivot of the receiving base overlaps with the cover in an opened state of the cover when viewed from the axial direction.
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859
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Tsuchida teaches the claimed invention except
wherein the pivot of the cover is a pivot shaft;
a pickup roller; and
wherein the swing pivot of the receiving base includes a swing shaft extending in an axial direction to be swingably supported by the guide around the swing shaft.
Yamazki teaches a well-known structure including a pickup roller (82, shown in FIG. 3) in combination with a feed roller (80), a pivotable separator pad (76), and a receiving base (70) having a swing shaft (72, refer to FIG. 2) swingably supported by a guide (66).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Tsuchida’s sheet feeding device to include a pickup roller and wherein the receiving base swing pivot is a swing shaft as taught by Yamazaki as known alternative variations for the same purpose of feeding sheet and rotatably supporting receiving base. While both references are silent of the pivot of the cover including a pivot shaft, it’s well-known (takes Official notice) in the art to use a pivot shaft to reliably support the cover in a pivoting state.
Regarding claim 2, wherein the cover has a recess (formed between most downstream end portions of cover 4 in FIG. 3) at a downstream end of the cover in the sheet feeding direction, and the swing shaft is disposed in the recess of the cover.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-8 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.
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 LUIS A GONZALEZ whose telephone number is (571)270-3094. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5:30pm.
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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.
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/LUIS A GONZALEZ/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3653