DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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, 6, and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inoue (JP Pub No 2003-072988).
Regarding claim 1, Inoue discloses a sheet feeding apparatus comprising:
a sheet loading tray (6) configured to be loaded with a sheet;
an intake unit (7) configured to take in the sheet loaded in the sheet loading tray to an apparatus body;
a feeding unit (8a) configured to feed the sheet taken in by the intake unit;
a separation unit (8b) configured to contact the feeding unit and separate a sheet to be fed from a plurality of sheets; and
a sheet detection unit (72) configured to detect presence or absence of a sheet between the feeding unit and the separation unit.
It is noted that Inoue fails to explicitly disclose the use of emitting light to detect the presence, however this aspect is exceptionally well known in the field of sheet feeding (e.g. an entire classification section filled with this aspect).
Regarding claim 6, Inoue discloses a moving unit (730) configured to move the intake unit between an intake position in contact with the sheet loaded in the sheet loading tray and a retracted position away from the sheet; and a control unit (e.g. disclose CPU) configured to control the feeding unit and the moving unit, wherein, in a case where a sheet is detected by the sheet detection unit when starting sheet feeding by the feeding unit, the control unit controls the moving unit such that the intake unit maintains the retracted position (as shown in figures 4 and 5).
Regarding claim 7, Inoue discloses wherein, in a case where a sheet is not detected by the sheet detection unit when starting sheet feeding by the feeding unit, the control unit controls the moving unit such that the intake unit moves to the intake position (as shown in figure 3).
Claim(s) 2, 3, 5 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inoue, in view of Nakamura et al (US Pub No 11,591,175).
Regarding claim 2, Inoue discloses wherein the feeding unit includes a first feed roller part (e.g. left roller) and a second feed roller part (e.g. right roller) that have a rotation axis extending in a sheet width direction, the separation unit includes a first separation roller part (e.g. left roller) and a second separation roller part (e.g. right roller) having a rotation axis extending in the sheet width direction (as shown in figure 1).
It is noted that Inoue fails to disclose the position of the sensor relative to the rollers. However, Nakamura discloses a similar device wherein a detector (545) is disposed between a set of feed roller (511) and separation roller (512) pairs. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to have modified the device taught by Inoue with the teachings of Nakamura to achieve the predictable result of immediately detecting the sheet while in the nip in case of anomalies (see column 40, lines 35-67).
Regarding claims 3 and 5, the combination discloses wherein the first feed roller part and the first separation roller part are configured to contact to each other to form a first nip range, the second feed roller part and the second separation roller part are configured to contact each other to form a second nip range, and a range over which the sheet detection unit detects presence or absence of the sheet is within a range of the first nip range and the second nip range in a conveyance direction of the sheet and between the first nip range and the second nip range in a sheet width direction.
Regarding claim 8, the combination discloses wherein the sheet detection unit includes a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit, and the light emitted by the light emitting unit is perpendicularly incident on a surface of a sheet present in the first nip range and the second nip range.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 9-15 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 on record discloses or suggests the features required by the above noted claims and all intervening claims therefrom.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Cited art generally discloses similar features to that of the claimed invention and are believed to be relevant to the claimed invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Patrick Cicchino whose telephone number is (571)270-1954. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:30AM to 5PM.
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, Anita Coupe can be reached at (571)270-3614. 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.
/Patrick Cicchino/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3619
Prosecution Insights